Someone who has influenced my thinking on local government greatly over the past couple of decades has this week published a new book, 'A Guide to Solar PV Projects - in Local Government and the Public Sector'. The first books of Stephen Cirell's that I read were thick local government law encyclopaedias around Compulsory Competitive Tendering, followed by similar tomes on Best Value, then the Private Finance Initiative and Charging and Trading. So how does someone go from this background into the arena of climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency? And do they know anything about the topic?

For the past three or four years Steve has been studying this area extensively and following a year working for Cornwall Council as Director of Green Peninsula, he came 'back up North' and begun working on a range of renewable energy projects, mainly for APSE, around Solar, Wind, Biomass and Electric Fleet. When most stood back and prevaricated around Solar, Steve was shouting about 'early mover advantage' and evangelising that local authorities should 'fill their boots' before the Feed In Tariff's were inevitably cut. Some did, but many hesitated and lost the initial opportunity. Steve's book now revisits the proposition of Solar PV for Local Government and the Public Sector and finds that due to the drop in price on PV panels it stacks up financially once again. However, if it was only about money then it would be a fairly shallow proposition. It's also about community leadership, energy security, carbon benefits, effectiveness and efficiency, and wider economic benefits.

Steve is someone who has always been slightly ahead of the local government curve and I believe that his new book and the subsequent ones on other forms of renewable energy, will prove to be a sound investment for those who believe that local government has a key role to play in micro generation of energy, energy efficiency and tackling issues such as fuel poverty, which blights many of the poorest families in our communities.

Although many Armageddon prophecies have been written about the coalition Government’s proposed cut to Feed in Tariffs for solar PV and its impact on the wider renewables agenda, I have to say that I don’t quite buy this vision of the future.

Whilst I am as disappointed as everyone else at the proposed reduction from 43p to 21p from early December, I recognise that the budget of £880m has been used up as commercial organisations cashed in on a financial windfall created by FiT’s, coupled with the dramatic falls in the price of solar panels. Government only ever intended that participants would make a return of 5% on a scheme funded by the general public; being honest many schemes were likely to yield a greater dividend than this.

Obviously, a number of local authorities and housing associations are partially through the delivery of schemes and it is unfortunate to say the least that the review has been brought forward from 31 March to now. APSE will be writing to Greg Barker calling for an exemption from the early reduction in tariff's for local authorities who have acted in good faith, based on Governments stated intention and entered into contractual arrangements aimed at delivering large volume schemes by 31 March. After all it is the public purse which will suffer if contracts need to be terminated.

On a wider renewables point I believe that there will be a pause for breath and then authorities will continue with their renewables programmes at pace. Solar will continue to have a place amongst wind, biomass and others; it will probably just not be as prominent as it was in the past. 

When APSE launched its research publication ‘The virtuous green circle: creating a revolving fund for local authority solar energy’, in Birmingham recently, I was impressed by the number of authorities present who were making progress with delivering projects in this area of renewable energy.

Many have woken up to the financial opportunity renewables create in a time of financial famine in local government, whilst also being aware of the policy necessity to reduce carbon usage by becoming more energy efficient.

One concern I do have however, is that this seems to be occurring on an ad-hoc basis rather than being part of a wider well thought through strategic response to climate change. Our research seeks to address this by outlining an approach that makes the investment in renewables self financing in the long term and which ensures that early stage projects are part of a wider programme that maximises the economic and environmental wellbeing for local communities.

Whilst many may have the aspiration, not everyone will achieve the outcome of being the greenest authority in the UK, although that shouldn’t stop the pursuit of that ambition. If Council’s are serious with their attempt then they need to have a coherent strategy that outlines their approach to renewables in the short, medium and long terms. The added incentive is that this can help alleviate service cuts and create new or alternative employment.

As a result of the generous financial incentives offered by Government, many have focused on short term initiatives around solar PV, as it doesn’t need planning permission, can be erected fairly quickly and starts generating a return almost immediately. This can then be used to fund further phases of the strategy such as wind turbines, which are more mid-term concepts, as they do create planning issues. Longer term projects such as District Heating Networks can be identified and worked into the corporate and asset management strategies of the Council.

Whilst I have not mentioned electric fleet, biomass or the renewable heat incentive all of these can be incorporated within such a strategy. Local authorities need to look at what natural resources and physical assets they have at their disposal and then decide how best they can use these to create economic benefit for their area over an extended period of time.

It’s not very often these days that local government gets the opportunity to be virtuous about something whilst making money from it, let’s make the most of it.

Launch of APSE's new research publication 'the virtuous green circle: creating a revolving fund for local authority solar energy', at Birmingham City Football Club. The report demonstrates a business case as to how you can undertake renewables projects in local government on a self financing basis.

In opening the conference my role was to place this in the context of the financial cuts facing local government at present. My emphasis is that for local government this is the one bright shining light at the end of a long dark tunnel of cuts.

David Owen an expert on Solar Photovoltaic energy followed me along with Stephen Cirell who is the author of the APSE report, Steve pursued a line that any authority who are not looking at this at present are missing out as it is the only game in town with in excess of a 17% return on investment. He added that he believed in this so strongly that he had a 4kw system fitted on his own house the day before.

Neil Saunders from Swindon Commercial Services gave a first class insight into how you develop a financial model for this type of project. In the afternoon Tim German of Cornwall Council spoke about the programme of Solar PV that they are pursuing on non domestic properties and Jonathan Edwards presented on the scheme Wrexham BC are rolling out on their council housing.

The debate flowed with great enthusiasm all day with a straw poll identifying that around 80% of the audience were already engaged in developing Solar PV programmes. The message is definitely getting through on this, now all we need to do is to get the Government not to tinker with the feed in tariffs. 

Got this article published on the Guardian's website today on the back of the debate I took part in last week.

With latest ONS figures showing more than 132,000 jobs were lost from the public sector last year and councils grappling with unprecedented budget cuts, green issues are in danger of slipping down the priority list. But in my view, it would be an economic error for local authorities to take their eyes off the environmental ball now.

The Stern report made it clear that environmental and economic sustainability go hand in hand. And, at a time of cuts in jobs and services, the expanding market for low emissions goods and services, predicted to swell to £4 trillion worldwide by 2015, presents a rare opportunity for councils to set a positive agenda.

In its bid to meet targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the government is offering financial incentives of up to £400m for generation of renewable energy. This energy can be sold to the National Grid as well as being used to cut councils' own fuel bills.

Given the intense pressure on resources, local authorities will be understandably reluctant to undertake capital investment. But our research shows how renewable energy not only pays for itself but can create a 'revolving fund' to reinvest in further energy saving measures – meaning a virtuous financial circle is set in motion.

The model we have developed uses solar photovoltaic (PV) panels as an example, but it could be applied to any other form of renewable energy. Local authorities have everything they need to develop PV schemes: buildings to convert, staff to undertake the work and the capacity to borrow money at low interest rates through prudential borrowing.

A number of valuable lessons have emerged from our study.

The first is that our number-crunching proves investment to save does pay. Creating a revolving fund to pay for substantial works may involve borrowing, but this expenditure has a guaranteed income stream, so it is ultimately self-funding.

Secondly, this is an opportunity to put the business case for the green agenda within the council and to local residents. In many ways, the local authority's own benefits – free energy, cost savings and income generation – can be taken as a given. It is the wider benefits that will make such a scheme more attractive. These include community leadership, carbon reduction, security of energy supply in an insecure market and, importantly, economic development.

By far the most important lesson we found is that doing it yourself is the most financially rewarding route. The DIY local government green energy model set out in our report means in-house staff can be recruited and redeployed, local supply chains stimulated and skills developed to benefit local economies far into the future.

With misery pervading local government, councils and communities need the positive impact a well-run green scheme can bring. That impact is economic as well as environmental.

Paul O'Brien is chief executive of Association for Public Service Excellence, APSE

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