Council officers will draw up a costed plan in the few weeks to take advantage of Government green energy incentives before they are reduced from 2012. A Green Party motion calling for the plan was passed in the Full Council, this month.
Cllr Jillian Creasy
The Greens, now holding the balance of power, have forced the LibDem administration to consider the move in Cabinet in December.
Under the Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) scheme, energy suppliers pay householders who generate their own electricity from renewable or low carbon sources. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is a similar scheme for installing renewable heat systems such as solar thermal panels.
Leader of the Green Group Cllr Jillian Creasy said, “Feed-in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive will help people make money from renewable energy, but we need to move quickly. Unless a scheme is up and running with substantial installations in place by 2012, Sheffield will miss out. The Green Councillors have now forced the administration to take this seriously.
“The Council could FIT clean energy on council or privately owned
buildings, and the energy cost savings or earnings would come back to council and householders. These schemes could potentially make a lot of money for the council and its citizens, reduce fuel poverty and create jobs.”
ENDS