Council chiefs have agreed to spend £1.35m building a solar farm which would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 tonnes a year and cut energy bills.
Oldham’s cabinet has signed off on plans for the Wrigley Head solar farm development on land in Failsworth.
Planning permission for the council to install 2,700 solar panels on the site, which covers more than 3.5 acres, was granted in 2021.
The proposed site, which is bounded on either side by the Metrolink and the Rochdale Canal, is owned by the town hall and is made up of ‘partial hardstanding’ and birch trees.
The solar farm was a plan originally drawn up in 2018, but which was paused in 2020 during the pandemic with officers saying the long-term outlook for wholesale energy prices meant that the solar farm ‘no longer showed a viable business case’.
READ MORE: Michael Gove announces £30m to improve social housing in wake of tragic death of Awaab Ishak
But following market testing in May of last year through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, it was found that one energy supplier was ‘informally’ offering an export price of 16p per kWh, compared to the price of 5.5p assumed when the project was first proposed.
The report to cabinet states that with improvements in technology, the scheme could have the potential to achieve one megawatt of generating capacity.
“The project could potentially in future provide electricity for an Oldham Local Energy Market to assist residents and businesses with their energy bills, as set out in the Oldham Green New Deal Strategy,” it adds.
Councillor Abdul Jabbar, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and low carbon said: “This is a report that I’ve been waiting a long, long time to come before cabinet for approval.
“It’s a wonderful exciting project. We could be the first local authority in Greater Manchester to develop a one megawatt ground mounted solar farm so I’m genuinely excited by it.
“It’s going to deliver renewable energy for us from a site which is currently disused, it will also save up to 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and that’s important in our fight against climate change.
“It contributes to the target we have for carbon neutrality, not just in Oldham but also in GM.”
Addressing Coun Jabbar, council leader Amanda Chadderton described him as Oldham’s ‘very own Greta Thunberg’.
“It’s been a long time in the making to be fair, and it is really impressive and the potential for that site is quite significant – we have really ambitious targets in Oldham around carbon neutrality and this will go a long way to ensuring that we achieve these,” she added.
The council will go out to tender for the scheme, and Coun Jabbar said he hopes the project could be completed by September or October this year.
The £1.35m funding for the scheme is coming from the council’s Creating a Better Place capital budget, but some of it could be recouped from grant funding.
READ NEXT:
- Woman died after developing hypothermia - she told her GP she 'couldn't afford heating'
- First glimpse inside Manchester Airport's planned new T2 with 27 shops, bars and restaurants
- A 14-year-old girl has been stabbed at Parrs Wood High School - a teenage boy has been arrested
- Woman fuming after partner, 48, refused entry from Manchester city centre bar for being 'too old'
- The North calls for levelling up to be ‘hard-wired' into UK law ahead of major Manchester conference
