Agenda item

Thames Valley Vision - Carbon Reduction

Mark Stannard of Scottish and Southern Energy will give a presentation in respect of the Thames Valley Vision for Carbon reduction which aims to find new ways of managing the existing UK national electricity power grid in the future.

Minutes:

Mark Stannard, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), gave a presentation in respect of the Thames Valley Vision for Carbon reduction which aimed to find new ways of managing the existing UK national electricity power grid in future.

 

SSE operated a network in northern Scotland and central southern England with 127,000km of overhead lines and underground cables and delivering electricity to 3.5 million homes, offices and businesses. SSE had a Regulated Asset Value of £3.21 billion.

 

Preparing for a low carbon future would involve achieving a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and 20% of final energy consumption being from renewable sources by 2020. The UK Government had pledged to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

 

179 domestic customers had signed up to SSE carbon reduction scheme and another 71 were being sought for the initial tranche for the scheme. Twelve commercial buildings were signed up and another 18 were being sought for the initial tranche.

 

In response to Members’ questions, the following comments were made:

 

  • Letters had been sent to 15,000 households across the Borough inviting people to become involved with the SSE carbon reduction project. There had been press releases, information on their website, and an Advisory Centre was due to open on the High Street in Bracknell on Saturday 15 December 2012. It was a five year project and SSE were currently one year into the project.
  • Certain clusters of customers were needed to make the project statistically significant but SSE would not turn customers away who were interested in being part of the project.
  • The core responsibility of SSE was to keep the electricity network functional. The project was about how to manage the network more effectively. SSE would be happy to advise customers on how to reduce their consumption but the project was not aimed at reducing electricity bills specifically.
  • Members of the Environment, Culture and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel and of the Planning Committee would receive an invitation to Scottish and Southern Energy’s Advisory Centre in Bracknell when it opened in December 2012.
  • The Advisory Centre, once open, could advise people on where to obtain solar tiles which were more expensive than solar panels but looked better aesthetically.
  • The map of residents who had registered for the project in Bracknell showed they were mostly based in South Bracknell at present. Letters had been sent to a wide range of residents in the Borough but the map showed the residents who had registered so far.
  • A student had been learning about the project at SSE and would feed back to other students.
  • SSE had visited Garth Hill College recently about the project, Edgbarrow School had signed up to the response agreement, and Bracknell and Wokingham College were interested in the project as well.
  • 250 domestic customers in Bracknell were being sought for the short term target for the project.
  • Being able to monitor electricity consumption by the minute and record consumption could help people to identify and reduce their consumption, thereby saving money on their electricity bill. New meters could track electricity usage.
  • The Thames Valley Vision presentation would be circulated to members of the Panel.
  • http://www.thamesvalleyvision.co.uk/

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk