By Cllr Sarah Kerr
I want to thank the community for their patience and understanding following the out-of-the-blue news that National Grid may delay the connection of Barkham solar farm by 11 years.
We are committed to being transparent and honest and that is why we decided to go public with the news straight away.
I’d also like to thank my fellow councillors who sit on the solar farm project board for their work and decision-making over the last year.
Given the nature and scale of this project, we decided to have a cross-party board that includes Labour and Conservative councillors (the Independents turned down the offer) as collectively we will make better decisions in a transparent manner.
We have paused work on the site while we work to find a solution.
From Torbay to Durham and everywhere in between similar issues are happening where the grid infrastructure has not kept up with new renewable schemes coming online. Ten- to 15-year waits for connections seem common.
Here in Wokingham, our frustration comes from having been given the green light to proceed last year, to subsequently have the rug pulled from underneath us.
We have got used to the Conservatives spraying venom at us since they lost control of the council, but even so, it came as a bit of a surprise to find them alleging in the paper last week that we had thrown out the solar farm project and started again, and that SSEN announced the delayed grid connection was because of us.
This is complete nonsense, and they know this isn’t true.
The Liberal Democrat administration were pleased to inherit the Barkham solar farm project when we took over the administration last May.
A connection date of 2026 was agreed by our predecessors in April 2022 and, until the recent news, we have proceeded on the original procurement timetable.
We are also thrilled to have agreed a lease on part of the land with local charity Freely Fruity, who have just completed the planting of their super orchard. They will be unaffected by National Grids communication with us.
Working in partnership with organisations like Freely Fruity is the bedrock of this administration.
The issues with grid connections need to be rectified urgently if the government is to have any hope of meeting its commitment to decarbonise the grid by 2035.
Just last month, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) report Delivering a Reliable Decarbonised Power System described what a reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity supply system needs to look like in 2035 and the steps required to achieve it.
The report shows that it’s possible, but current government policy will not get us there. Failure to reach the target is likely to be due to red tape and bureaucratic processes which government could fix.
The government’s energy security strategy published just a couple of weeks ago lacks clarity and urgency and is unlikely to give confidence to the investors we need to make this happen. The focus seems to be on setting empty targets rather than the changes needed to allow delivery on the ground.
The government also needs to include net-zero in Ofgem’s remit, enabling them to ensure National Grid makes the required investments to increase grid capacity. The Energy Bill, currently in the House of Lords, could rectify this and I will be lobbying for this change.
There is a lot that still needs to be done to fully transition to a decarbonised energy system, and I do not believe that the current government is up to the job.
We will continue here in Wokingham, working hard in a transparent and honest way to adapt and mitigate to climate change with the tools we have available and do everything we can to enable and empower our communities to do the same.
Cllr Sarah Kerr is the executive member for climate emergency and resident services and Lib Dem ward member for Evendons. Her seat is not up for election this year.
