Decision Maker: Cabinet
Decision status: Recommendations Approved (subject to call-in)
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: Yes
Decision:
1.
That Cabinet recommends to Council:
That the following decision of Council made on 18 July 2024 be
rescinded:
‘that up to £2,750,000 of prudential borrowing be
approved subject to securing a unit rate per MWh that exceeds the
loan repayments, covers projected maintenance and other operational
and equipment replacement costs and provides an appropriate surplus
per annum over the life of the scheme commensurate with level of
risk.’
2.
That the following decision of Cabinet made on 11 June 2024 be
rescinded:
‘that the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of
the Council, Finance Director and Cabinet Member for Finance should
review and agree the final business plan after the EPC tender and
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) stage are complete and subject to
that agreement is then authorised to agree and finalise the
detailed terms and enter into contract with South West Water (SWW)
or another purchaser of the electricity.’; and
3.
That subject to 2. above authority be delegated to the Director of
Finance, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Place Development and Economic
Growth, to agree and finalise the detailed lease terms, in
line with an independent market valuation, and enter into a long
lease for the land edged red as set out in Appendix 1 to the
submitted report.
Reasons for the decision:
The delivery of a
solar farm would reduce carbon emissions within Torbay in line with
the Councils Energy and Climate Change Strategy. The solar farm would provide renewable energy to a
SWW water treatment plant at Galmpton.
The water treatment plant serves Torbay residents.
Furthermore, by
leasing its land the Council would benefit from a capital receipt
at the outset, equivalent to the costs incurred to date in
obtaining planning consent. In
addition, an annual market rent would be paid to the Council by the
Pennon Group in accordance with the lease terms over a maximum 40
year period.
Alternative options considered:
Implementation:
The decision in
respect of 1. will be considered at the Adjourned Annual Council
meeting on 15 May 2025. The decision in
respect of 2. and 3. will come into force and may be implemented on
29 April 2025 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out
in the Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).
Information:
On 11 June 2024
Cabinet approved funding for a solar farm at Brokenbury. Planning
consent had been obtained for a 2MWp solar farm. The consent had been granted for a 3-year time
period whereby work must have been started (but not
completed). In more recent discussions
SWW, through its parent company Pennon Group had introduced an
alternative approach to delivery. Rather than the Council deliver the solar farm and
then provide renewable energy at an agreed rate, it was now
proposed that the land at Brokenbury
was leased to Pennon/SWW which would allow them to build out the
solar farm. Pennon would be responsible
for constructing the solar farm. There would be no build costs for
the Council and no need for a PPA. This
reduced the need for the Council to borrow money and finance the
construction and removed any risks with delivering the solar farm
and providing power to the end user.
The revised proposed
delivery model still delivered the objectives of the original
proposal but transferred the construction and management of the
solar farm to the end user. This
allowed the end user to ensure that it met their own requirements
and specification.
At the meeting
Councillor Chris Lewis proposed and Councillor Billings seconded a
motion that was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet, as set out
above.
Interests and Nature of Interests Declared:
Publication date: 17/04/2025
Date of decision: 15/04/2025
Date comes into force if not called in: 29/04/2025
Call-in deadline date: 28/04/2025
Current call-in Count: 0
