Hull shelves solar plans with net zero goal seen as ‘impossible’

The University of Hull has “paused” plans to build a solar farm near its campus, with further job cuts also on the cards.

As part of a strategy to become carbon neutral by 2027 – its centenary year – the institution secured £86 million from investors to pay for estate improvements, with the solar farm seen as central to the vision.

But, according to a transcript of an internal briefing delivered to staff by vice-chancellor Dave Petley, the university was informed by the National Grid that it could not accept the electricity it planned to generate until 2034, leaving the commitment to carbon neutrality in just three years “impossible to achieve”.

The university will therefore “need to do some work now to think about how we are going to move forward in terms of defining and meeting our carbon target, and alongside this we have also now paused some of the estate investments that we were planning to make and that is just to be sure that we maintain the right level of cash within the institution”, Professor Petley says in the transcript, released by the University and College Union (UCU) on 30 August.

UCU said the university has also unveiled plans to “sack” up to 127 staff members, including 95 academics, months after a voluntary severance scheme led to 107 employees leaving the university.

The union has called a strike ballot to oppose the latest round of cuts, saying staff were “paying the price” for the failure of “pet projects”. The university said there was “no link between the technical grid connection issues and the university’s need to make financial savings”.

UCU warned that the cuts would see the university lose “around one in 10 of the already reduced academic workforce” with the Faculty of Science and Engineering set to lose one in five of its staff, and the chemistry department at risk of closure.

The university reportedly told the union that the cuts were needed after a £7 million fall in income from domestic and international students, and to meet the requirements of its banking covenants with lenders.

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said the university had “bet big” on “huge-scale green capital investment” but the plans had “gone up in smoke”.

“Now, senior leaders expect staff to pay the price for their failed pet projects and financial mismanagement,” she added.

“Our members are angry and will be voting yes for strike action, as they are clear there is no point trying to create a shiny carbon-neutral campus if the university has sacked the academics who should be teaching in it.”

A Hull spokesperson said: “We shared with staff earlier this year that due to the inability of the national electricity grid being able to accept power from us in sufficient quantities until 2034, some elements of our carbon neutral strategy will need to change.

“We will work as a community to set ambitious but realistic targets for achieving carbon neutrality across our campus for the future and we remain committed to finding carbon neutral solutions.”

Addressing the need to make further redundancies the spokesperson said: “In common with most universities, we are not exempt from the significant challenges faced by the higher education sector. 

“These challenges include a significant reduction in international student applications, and changes in UK student recruitment application patterns, which have led to a drop in income whilst costs continue to rise. This means we need to make savings of £23m over two years, across the university.”

The university therefore had to “make some difficult decisions”, the spokesperson said, but “no decisions have yet been made” and a consultation was ongoing.

“We recognise this is a challenging time and are doing everything we can to support colleagues and listen to their feedback and suggestions as we work through this consultation period,” the spokesperson added.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com