For the first half of this year, the Hub worked with Energy Systems Catapult to map and do a first assessment of Complex Site opportunities for local authorities across our South West region.
In the next phase of the project, we are discussing the outputs of this work with local authorities that showed as having good complex site opportunities.
While we’ve learned a lot from the mapping project, we also know that desk-based studies are always limited when it comes to meeting the reality of delivery.
For example, in our mapping outputs, a lot of school sites are included but local authority delivery of solar on schools is usually more complicated than simply being the freeholder and the electricity supply being through the council contract.
So, in most cases, a ‘Complex Sites’ approach is not the starting point for developing a renewables programme, but it can make a significant difference and should be considered when renewables projects are being developed.
The good news is that we have learned a lot and are building the internal capacity to support local authorities in assessing possible complex site configurations and the potential financial upside. As a next step we are working with a small number of local authorities on that basis.
The implementation of complex sites needs a willing supplier to facilitate the arrangements, so we are also actively working with Energy Local CIC and some local authority electricity suppliers and frameworks to understand the practical implications. Through this we aim to do a first pilot implementation with one local authority and a supplier.
The bigger suppliers are waiting for the relevant changes to the energy market regulations to be adopted before getting too involved, specifically P441 modification to the Balancing and Settlement Code, which will clarify the regulatory treatment of complex sites.
Unfortunately, adoption of P441 has been delayed, and won’t be agreed in October, as further work is needed to align timings with other industry changes. It’s now for the Elexon panel to resubmit with a new aligned timeline. We will keep providing updates on this as it progresses.
Read our Complex Sites explainer