Minutes:
1. Members received a presentation from Ms McKenzie, Head of Sustainable Business and Communities and Mr Baggs, Energy Manager, updating Members on the progress of the Energy Select Committee recommendations. The presentation can be viewed online via this link – Energy Select Committee presentation.
2. It was considered that good progress was being made on the recommendations but there was still a lot of work to do.
3. Members discussed the proposed Solar Farm in Swale Borough, this was a private development on farmland KCC had a policy on the grade of farmland not to be used for such developments and this farmland was considered suitable. it was considered to be a balance in terms of scale and generation, an Environmental Report on the area was not yet available but was expected.
4. Members raised the following points:
a. Land could be reverted back to agricultural
b. KCC should look at assets and opportunities to more forward to make the best use of assets and provide revenue streams
c. Storage of electricity with an oversupply at times.
5. Ms McKenzie explained that KCC would be looking at storage, along with artificial intelligence and the use of data to analyse how electricity was used and when during the day. There might be opportunities for battery storage in the future with a number of potential income generating opportunities for KCC.
6. A Member raised the issue of designs for schools and the potential for building with solar panels, Mr Baggs explained that he had been looking at opportunities for design within the schools’ budget; Mr Baggs would send Members the information relating to the case studies he had looked at. One of the actions within the report was to look at KCC’s design and building standards and it was hoped that this would be looked at within the next six months, the Chairman asked for progress to be reported back to Members.
7. A Member referred to the use of heating systems in Holland which were very successful, Members could contribute to the planning system by advising or assisting at an early stage. There was also potential to use the prison buildings on Sheppey which could generate or provide a source of heating or power.
8. Members discussed Electric Vehicles, with regarding to charging points it was considered that the infrastructure was still not quite there and there was still a lot to be done. The Government had released a large amount of money for improving charging points.
9. Energy security was an international issue, Lords cricket ground was completely sustainable with renewable energy.
10. Members discussed the use of waste to provide energy, KCC’s waste strategy looked for areas of opportunity and there were interesting developments across the world with using waste that could not be recycled for energy. There had been studies in Germany turning waste in diesel type fuel, but there were concerns over air quality.
RESOLVED that Members thank Ms McKenzie and Mr Baggs for their excellent presentation and note its contents.