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A plan for Guernsey’s future energy needs has again been deferred.
The Environment and Infrastructure (E&I) Committee had originally planned to release the plan in December 2022.
Earlier this year, it revised its timeline to before March, but the new strategy is now expected to be published by May 5, 2023.
E&I president Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez said the new delay needed to consider “further modeling.”
He said: “To ensure that the electricity strategy achieves its purpose, we have requested additional models and information.
“It means that we currently expect to publish the electricity strategy by May 5, in time for it to be examined by the states in the meeting in early July.
“This additional work will also help us address some of the issues raised through our ongoing engagement with industry representatives.”
“The offer is convenient”
Mrs de Sausmarez said that this is a high priority for her committee, so it is important to get it right.
He said: “With our demand for electricity on the rise, we must address the question of how we can meet this growing demand while ensuring our supply is affordable, secure and limits our impact on the environment.
“We have engaged with the energy industry, regulator and stakeholders to make sure the electric strategy provides this balanced and effective way to meet our future demand.”
The new strategy will look into transitioning Guernsey to net-zero.
In August 2020, the Climate Change Policy for Guernsey was approved, which set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.
It also sets an interim target of a 57% reduction from 1990 emissions levels by 2030.
Local nanobrewery Second Meridian recently started using solar energy.
The company, which supplies beer to local restaurants, started out as a hobby with four friends who brewed beer at their homes.
“It takes a planet to drink beer”
One of the founders of the company, Sam Hamperl, said: “We need to heat a lot of water and it takes a lot of energy to heat the water we need.
“Our plan from the beginning was to see how we could do this using renewable sources. When we’re not brewing, all the electricity we generate will go back to the grid.”
“It’s really important that companies think about the environment, as we need a planet to drink beer on. Otherwise it’s all a bit pointless.”
But Mr Hamperl said it was “quite difficult” to source the materials needed for the solar power system, at a competitive price.
“We plan to get more panels as we are currently generating about 5.5KW, it would be good to double that, so we are looking at another 16 panels that would cover us during production.”
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