Council keen to be part of UK’s clean energy revolution

Bridgend County Borough Council will be part of a consortium bidding for a share of £40m worth of central government funding to develop ways of de-carbonising the local area’s energy usage.

With a pressing need to find cheaper and cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels that can be used on a wide-scale, the government’s has created a ‘Prospering from the Energy Revolution Programme’ that will allocate the funding to three innovative projects it selects from across the UK.

Among those aiming for selection is a Bridgend County Borough consortium which is being led by Cenin Renewables, a company based at Parc Stormy near Porthcawl.

The full details of their proposal for revolutionising local energy are being kept under wraps as they are subject to commercial confidentialities.

However, the general intention is for the Cenin Renewables site to utilise its power generation capability locally and demonstrate how this could be integrated digitally with a proposed heat network for Bridgend town centre. Doing so would create innovative solutions for the whole energy system with benefits for both residents and businesses alike.

This week, Cabinet Members from Bridgend County Borough Council gave their backing to the local authority joining the consortium to combine public and private sector expertise.

We are very keen to be part of this consortium as it links in with other clean energy projects which are already underway locally such as our proposal for a heat network which would start by connecting public buildings in Bridgend town centre and eventually join up with dense residential areas such as Brackla as well as dozens of schools and other public buildings. We’re currently working on securing funding for that particular scheme.

The government’s long term aim is to make clean technologies that cost less than high carbon alternatives, and for UK businesses to take the lead in supplying them to global markets. We want Bridgend County Borough to be involved in this energy revolution.

While it is too early to reveal the full scale of the consortium’s proposals, I am extremely excited that what is being planned can deliver significant environmental benefits by reducing carbon emissions, contributing to our long-term goal of de-carbonising Bridgend County Borough by 2050.

Councillor Richard Young, Cabinet Member for Communities,

“I’m also enthused by the potential for addressing fuel poverty and health inequalities among residents, and the supply chain opportunities that would be provided for local businesses. I look forward to our local authority’s involvement and keeping a close eye on how this rapidly changing sector will develop over the coming years.”

More than £2.5bn of government funding will be invested in low carbon innovation up to 2021, part of the largest increase in public spending on science, research and innovation in over 30 years.