Issue - meetings

            The Climate Programme Manager City submitted the undernoted report on the Council’s proposals to expand its electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1            The purpose of this report is to provide Members with an update on the FASTER project, which will increase Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Members of the Committee are asked to:

                                               I.          Note that the sites previously agreed by Committee on 13th October 2022, Girdwood Hub, Brook Leisure Centre, and Ballysillan Leisure Centre are now included as primary sites within the live procurement exercise which will appoint a Charge Point Operator to manage Design, Installation and Operation of the Northern Ireland chargepoints.

                                             II.          Note that a process of assessing EV charger capacity at a range of Belfast Leisure Centre locations has taken place, whereby Ulster University who are technical lead in the project, have worked with NIE to assess sites and have made recommendations on inclusion or omission accordingly.

                                            III.          Note that one previously agreed site, Belvoir Activity Centre, has been omitted due to constraints in the energy capacity on site.

                                           IV.          Note that Shankill Leisure Centre and Ozone Complex were assessed and deemed to have insufficient energy capacity at present for EV chargers.

                                             V.          Note that Olympia Leisure Centre was considered for inclusion however had to be omitted due to time constraints relating to the procurement process and the fact that Olympia Leisure Centre’s energy is managed by the IFA through Windsor Park.

                                           VI.          Approve Avoniel Leisure Centre being included on the list of primary locations within Belfast, as a replacement for Belvoir Activity Centre.

                                         VII.          Approve an additional three locations which have been included as reserve sites, should they be required. These are Lisnasharragh Leisure Centre, Grove Wellbeing Centre, and Whiterock Leisure Centre.

3.0       Main report

3.1       Background

3.2       The FASTER Project is a joint cross border project across Scotland, the border Counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland to support the overarching ambition to transition to low carbon transport systems and to demonstrate how each of the three jurisdictions can provide early systems learning in relation to the electrification of transport.

3.3       The FASTER Project aims to ensure that the availability of public charging stations is not a major obstacle to Electric Vehicle (EV) market penetration.

3.4       Further information about the FASTER Project can be found at www.fasterevcharge.com

3.5       The FASTER Project has been awarded funding for the Project’s costs from the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

3.6       The partnership will implement the physical rollout of 73 rapid charging stations in the programme area. The Project aims to ensure that the availability of charging stations is not a major obstacle to Electric Vehicle (EV) market penetration with the proposal to carry out the design, analysis, procurement, installation, and operation of 73 Rapid Chargers across the three programme jurisdictions. There must be cross compatibility between the three  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7