Going all out to make Swindon Borough Council carbon neutral

Monthly column from Swindon Borough Council leader David Renard.

We have recently had two positive pieces of news as we continue our drive to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Back in July last year, councillor colleagues approved our Net Zero Emissions Action Plan, and this sets out a series of actions to help us reach net zero emissions within the council by 2030 and a much more ambitious target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions for the whole borough by 2050.

It is estimated that local councils like our own are directly responsible for between two and five per cent of their local areas' emissions, but we also have a role to play in helping our local residents reduce their own impact on the environment.

Over the last few years we have built huge solar farms in the borough, we have almost finished converting 26,000 street lights to more efficient LED bulbs and we are continuing to expand our electric vehicle fleet as well as our on-street electric vehicle charging points.

But we want to go even further. A few weeks ago, construction began on a huge 12MW/24MWh battery at our Waterside Innovation Hub at the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Cheney Manor Industrial Estate.

It is a unique development, being the first project to be part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is being delivered by EV fleet and battery storage specialist company, Zenobe, and our wholly-owned company Public Power Solutions.

The battery is part of the new zero carbon electricity infrastructure at the Innovation Hub, which also includes a 2.5MW solar farm at the nearby former Barnfield landfill site, eight new double-headed electric vehicle  charging points, and later this year a solar canopy will also be installed.

The project will supply power to over 3,000 local homes for two hours.

While this will help us in our council net zero target, local residents have also been playing their part in exploring how they can benefit from clean energy.

You may recall we recently launched a solar panel group-buying scheme in partnership with Wiltshire Council and independent experts iChoosr.

We have had a fantastic response with more than 10,000 residents across the county registering their interest.

The scheme will offer more competitive pricing than residents might get if entering the market on their own.

If you have registered your interest in the scheme you will soon receive a costed recommendation from 4 July onwards. The price will be based on the outcome of a reverse auction held by iChoosr which will appoint the winning installers.

Any queries can be emailed to iChoosr at [email protected] or calling 0800 048 8113.