Agenda item

Members were provided with an update on the Regional Energy Strategy Delivery.

The Chairperson was pleased to note that the Regional Energy Team had recently been awarded a further year of funding from Welsh Government until March 2026.

Officers provided an overview of the report and reminded the Committee that the Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs) were the framework for delivery of the Regional Energy Strategy. It was noted that although the LAEP are public documents, there were plans to publicise them further through a public forum at the beginning of July 2025; this will be an important stage for public engagement and transparency, as it will demonstrate progress made, challenges and specifics around delivery.

Despite the positive news about additional funding from Welsh Government, it was stated that the funding was only available up until March 2026 and there were a number of concerns in terms of resourcing the delivery.

It was explained that there were limited resources across all four Local Authorities for delivering this workstream, with many Officers working on the delivery as part of their day jobs; there were also limited targeted employees carrying out this particular piece of work.

Following on from the above, Officers highlighted that the Regional Energy Team were critical in terms of delivery and continuing progress. It was noted that discussions would need to take place in terms of staff resource; particularly the need for more permanent roles in order to provide consistent progress.

Members were informed that Officers were currently waiting for the Welsh Government statement regarding Carbon Budget 3, which should be provided by the end of the year.

It was stated that the current position, from an Officer level, was that although delivery was moving forward, it was currently on a low level due to the highlighted difficulties and challenges.

Officers provided detail in regard to serval ongoing and planned projects:

·        Parc Gelli Werdd Launch Events – As previously mentioned, there was a planned launch event for LAEPs at Parc Gelli Werdd, a sustainable business park in Cross Hands, which was funded by a joint venture between Carmarthenshire County Council and Welsh Government. In addition to this, Officers explained that they were developing LAEP webpages and creating online training for staff within the Local Authorities in order for them to engage with the LAEP documents.

·        Innovate UK Application – Officers were working in Pembrokeshire, with Bluestone and the Port, to produce an application for Innovate UK to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) within the tourism supply chain; this piece of work sought to obtain their carbon reporting and decarbonisation plans. It was noted that this work provided support to these organisations in order to assist them in improving their sustainability, reducing their carbon footprint and providing a combined decarbonisation plan; it also enables Officers to aggregate that data and look for opportunities where smart energy systems could be created.

·        Regional Transport – The Regional Energy Team were linking in with the Regional Transport Team to ensure that elements of their Regional Transport Strategy aligned with the energy workstream, particularly where they were looking to roll out Electric Vehicles (EV) and the like.

·        South Wales Heat Network Project – It was recognised that there were opportunities to use waste heat across the region in order to deliver a heat network. Officers were currently exploring the feasibility of this opportunity.

·        Forthcoming Ynni Cymru and WSRID grant schemes.

The Committee was informed that Welsh Government were currently aggregating all of the LAEP data; once completed, that will be put onto the DataMapWales. It was noted that, from this data, Officers will be able to determine where efforts should be targeted and form a strategy for focusing on areas where significant impacts could be made.

The following update was provided on the individual priority schemes:

Solar Group Purchasing Project – There were currently significant challenges with procurement in relation to this project, particularly the Procurement Teams feeling comfortable procuring on behalf of others. Officers were awaiting advice to provide to Procurement Teams in terms of the best route to delivering this scheme.

Behavioural Change Project – Officers had put together a project with all of the community energy groups that currently provide advice across the region; in order to progress this work, a combined bid had been submitted through the Climate Action Fund lottery. Unfortunately, it was noted that bid was unsuccessful. It was highlighted that Officers were currently seeking alternative ways of funding this project due to the significant outcomes that could come from having Local Authorities supporting households to make key changes.

Cross Boundary EV Charging – Swansea and Neath Port Talbot had completed a trial run of charging vehicles in each other’s charging points, which had worked successfully. Officers were currently trying to identify Teams in Local Authorities, with appropriate drivers that live cross boundary, in order to carry out a live trial. It was added that this will feed into the work of the Metro, who were looking at expanding this to include the wider public sector.

To summarise the overview of the circulated report, Officers reiterated the challenges, particularly surrounding procurement and funding, that would need to be addressed; not only to continue delivery, but to move delivery progress forward more efficiently.

A further discussion took place in regard to procurement, following Members asking for clarity on the next steps to try and resolve the issues pertaining to procurement and ensuring that procurement processes were more aligned going forward. Officers highlighted the challenges associated with not being able to make direct awards on behalf of others, and were currently working on identifying other mechanisms that Local Authorities could adopt in order to jointly procure.

The Committee raised potential ways forward for resolving this issue, specifically through the Corporate Joint Committee as a procurement body. It was agreed that the concerns raised in terms of procurement would be escalated to the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee, through the Chairperson of the Energy Sub Committee.

The Head of Policy and Business Administration provided an update in regard to the governance of the energy workstream, as it linked to the discussions moving forward. It was stated that there was currently a prospectus workshop ongoing with Welsh Government and Officers from each of the four Corporate Joint Committees; through conducting this workshop, it was acknowledged that the South West Wales Region were the only Corporate Joint Committee to have a separate Sub Committee set up for the energy workstream. It was explained that the other Corporate Joint Committees had amalgamated energy with the economic develop workstream. It was concluded that at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee, which was scheduled for 27 May 2025, this matter would debated to determine if the energy workstream should continue to be stand alone or amalgamated with economic development.