Local authorities can use their powers to make the economics of most applications of solar stack up today, without central government support. That’s the headline message from our new report, Leading Lights. Many of the lessons apply to the wider public sector. This means local government or public sector leaders with ambitions to cut carbon, energy bills and air pollution don’t have to wait on Westminster to take effective action. They can start now, if they haven’t already. Our analysis shows that 85 per cent of local authorities already own solar panels, nearly a third have integrated solar into their environmental strategies and the top 10 local authority investors have already collectively invested £80 million in solar. Despite frustrating policy barriers for the commercial solar industry, public sector investment
continues. Indeed, West Sussex County Council is about to open the UK’s first truly subsidyfree solar farm, together with battery storage. Since we published our report, Leicester City Council has announced a £16 million investment in a solar farm and industrial units, which will generate nearly £1 million of revenue for essential frontline services every year. The attractive economics of ‘subsidy-free’ solar farms, showcased in our report, are backed up by independent expert modelling we commissioned alongside. For rooftop solar, the public sector should make full use of zero interest Salix Finance to upgrade the energy and carbon
performance of their building stock. Salix has recently admitted solar back in and their overall funding is set to rise to around £385 million by 2020. They encourage potential projects to take a holistic approach, requiring all reasonable energy efficiency measures to cut bills and carbon to be taken before or alongside installing solar, and they expect loans to be refunded within five years, or eight for schools. Our report features Norland Church of England school in Halifax that has done just this. Salix loan finance can be used alongside other sources of funding for projects with longer paybacks, which allows for more ambitious or E
Loca authori l can also ties rooftop deliver solar scheme s w ith better p ayback even schools s across and cou n rooftop cil s
Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Written by Leonie Greene, Solar Trade Association
The public sector can already make most applications of solar work for the communities they serve today. The Solar Trade Association’s Leonie Greene explains why
Energy
Leading Lights: encouraging local authority solar use
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