Scottish Green MSP Ariane Burgess has hailed the work of Green Cllrs in ensuring that most of Highland Council’s solar PV panels have at last been switched on – 11 years after they were installed.
Cllr Chris Ballance (Aird and Loch Ness) said:
“It’s unbelievable that for ten years no-one in successive administrations asked the right questions, or demanded solutions, or even seemed to notice the panels hadn’t been switched on.
“It was just over a year ago that someone mentioned this in passing in a meeting, so I started to ask questions and press for answers.
“I’m delighted to say that it’s been confirmed to me this week that the PV panels installed on Inverness’ Victorian Market are now generating electricity to be used in the market.
“But they should have been doing this for ten years.
“From what I can discover, our insurance company asked for a maintenance plan before it would insure them.
“And for ten years no-one got round to producing such a plan.
“I commend the current officers for resolving the issue promptly, once questions were asked.
“But why weren’t the questions asked ten years ago?
“This has cost the Council and the Inverness Common Good Fund hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Cllr Kate Willis (Green, Fort William and Ardnamurchan), vice chair of the Climate Change Committee, said it was disappointing to learn that of the Council’s 114 PV installations, it is unclear how many are actually operational.
“A report to the Climate Change Committee on the 29th reveals that of the 54 PV systems that the Council inspected, 32 are now operational, 18 were in need of maintenance before being switched on and 4 systems, when visited, were discovered not to be present anymore.
“There’s still more to be done – the Council have 2.63 MW of solar generating capacity, but only 78% of that has so far been made operational.”
Ariane Burgess, Scottish Green MSP for the Highlands & Islands region commented:
“This type of thoughtful, diligent work is a great example of what Green Councillors are known for. Identifying a problem, asking the right questions and making sure change happens.
“With energy costs remaining sky high, it’s great that people in the Highlands – and the Council’s budgeting team – will finally be benefitting from generating their own clean, green energy.”
