Warrington Solar
Warrington Council, Warrington
Our Story
Local councils have been identified as the buildings blocks to fight back against climate change in the UK, and have the opportunity to garner investment into key renewable energy markets.
However, precarious local authority finances mean that many medium scale renewable energy projects fail to get off the ground. At Warrington Council, we’ve established a major solar generation project, having strategically grown the appetite in the area through a commercial investment approach, allowing for clean energy production as well as a working financial asset.
Placing solar panels on homes and commercials roofs helped build an appetite for renewable energy investment, before sourcing solar farms sites in York and Hull.
The Challenge
As a local authority we have a duty to help deliver on the needs of our residents, whilst also supporting national agendas where we can. Our portfolio of solar farms help tie into the national push for Net Zero, whilst also working as a financial asset to help fund vital services and creating new opportunities for investment for the private sector.
We expect this investment to yield £150 million over 30 years whilst also saving 25,000 tonnes of Co2 per year. Our site in Hull alone, with a 25.7MWp solar farm. will produce enough electricity needs and will also cut our energy bills.
Our Solution
We partnered up with GRIDSERVE to develop and acquire the assets before creating and commissioning them back to us a working asset. The end result is some of the most innovative solar panels in use, with bi-facial panels, solar tracking, and integrated battery storage, creating a revolutionised approach for clean energy investment.
The York site is a hybrid solar farm with an additional 27MW battery storage system, and combined with our Hull site, the amount of Co2 saved per year means we have already secured generation capacity in excess of our power use. Through our analysis these sites are exceeding expectations in terms of performance and financial returns. This has allowed us to continue our commitment in green investment funding having recently acquired a new site in Cirencester.
Want to find out more?
You can find out more about or solar farm investments, and all our other green energy projects at https://www.warrington.gov.uk/
Underside of high efficiency bi-facial panels used for the solar farm
