Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which presented the key findings from the Feasibility Study and Options Appraisal for Large Scale Energy Generation for Manchester City Council, which had been undertaken to determine the best way for the Council to achieve a 7000 tonne reduction in CO₂ by 2025, which was a target within the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP).

The Feasibility Study concluded that the Council had two options, either purchase a solar PV facility or negotiate a suitable power purchase agreement (PPA). Both options were assessed to be better than the “do nothing” option.  Solar PV was recommended as the most appropriate renewable technology as onshore wind developments were very limited in availability and were often subject to planning challenges. Offshore wind was generally too large a scale to be suitable.

The size of requirement needed to deliver 7,000 tonnes of CO₂ annual savings was equivalent to 33MW of solar PV.  To deliver benefits beyond this point and contribute more significantly to the Council meeting its target to be zero carbon by 2038, then between 45-50MW of solar PV would be required and it was recommended that the Council should consider adopting this size of requirement to future-proof residual emissions through to 2038.  It was note that the Council had maximised capacity on its own buildings for renewable energy generation with 6.67MW already scheduled to be installed via roof-mounted solar PV installations on the Council’s estate.

It was reported that there is no suitable land in Council ownership to deploy 45-50MW of solar capacity. An area of approximately 100 Hectares of land would be required to deliver the 7,000 tonnes of CO₂ requirement nor were any opportunities identified within Manchester for a partnership project.  As such the feasibility study concluded that the Council needed to look out of area to deliver the required size of generation, given there were no local opportunities for solar PV at the required scale.

It was noted that a budget of £27m–£30m was the estimated cost for an asset purchase, which would have  and anticipated lifespan of 35-40 years.  Should this option be selected, and a suitable facility identified, the Council would need to be prepared to move at speed as the numbers of projects of this kind coming to market were relatively few and were likely to be in high demand.

It was reported that in order to progress effectively, a project team would be created which would incorporate appropriate internal capacity within the Council’s Corporate Landlord functions (including our Energy Management and Facilities Management Teams).  This team would be complemented by securing appropriate expert advice to implement the recommendations around purchase of a solar facility twin-tracked with a PPA.  This twin-track approach would allow the Council to progress the two recommended options in line with the findings of the feasibility study and was necessary to allow the Council to make the right purchase to meet its needs within the CO₂ targets and timescales set in its Climate Change Action Plan.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Note the options available to the Council.

(2)       Agree that the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and the Chair of the Zero Carbon Coordination Group establish a delivery team to develop the options further, with a view to returning to the Executive with a proposal.