Our Story

We have made great strides towards delivering renewable energy across the Manchester City Region as part of the 5-year Environment Plan for Greater Manchester. However, a lot more needs to be done at a larger scale to achieve carbon neutrality by 2038 and to stimulate the local economy recovery since the Covid pandemic.

Go Neutral is a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)-led Smart Energy initiative aimed towards decarbonising our city region and deliver effective social value, community wealth building and inclusive growth.

The initiative will aim to take more control of how we generate, use and trade our energy locally to create a resilient energy system, create greener, healthier and more affordable lifestyles, and create diverse investment opportunities that will help create new jobs and skills on our way to carbon neutrality by 2038.

With phase 1 nearing completion, efforts are tuning towards the second phase of the project which aims to dramatically scale impact and delivery, expanding the deployment opportunities across the city region and working effectively with the 10 districts.

Our Solution

Phase 1 of the Go Neutral project delivered a pipeline of 20MW of new renewable energy generation and battery storage across all of GM’s districts by the end of 2023, and will support circa 575 jobs through feasibility, design, and delivery.

The first phase over the first three years of the project, will identify, develop, and deliver at least 85MW of power generation and potential supporting battery storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure across 430 assets owned by 13 public sector partners.

In total, this could provide 25 MWp of building integrated solar PV with supporting battery storage, 10MWp of solar car ports, and 50MWp of ground mounted solar PR; both with supported battery storage and potential to extend out to wind generation, EV forecourts, and charging hubs.

Phase 2 looks to make the most of underused public sector owned assets by making them available for smart energy deployment opportunities. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and the Environment Agency will shortlist sites for potential development opportunities based.

on their geospatial characteristics and local intelligence. 768 (and counting) underutilised sites have been shortlisted by partners for potential integrated smart energy solutions.

To help streamline the procurement and delivery of these opportunities, we are currently putting in place a GMCA-led smart energy call-off framework. It will allow users to contract with providers to make carbon savings and/ or cost savings through implementing ‘smart energy interventions’ to their buildings, car parks and land assets via a range of investment and delivery models. The framework will be accessible to all UK public sector organisations.