Halton Borough Council celebrates brand-new solar farm to power arena

• Halton Borough Council is commemorating the completion of a new solar farm, set to power the DCBL Stadium Halton.

The 1MW website has greater than 3,000 PV panels, as well as will certainly produce around 850,000 kWh a year. Of this, around 45% will certainly most likely to the arena while the remainder will certainly be exported to the grid.

Located on former derelict brownfield land in Widnes, part of the St Michael's Golf Course site, the solar farm price roughly ₤ 1.2 million as well as was component funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with the council giving the remainder of the expense.

Cllr Stef Nelson, the council's profile holder for the Environment, claimed: "I am delighted that the solar farm is up and running and generating multiple-use power for the arena. This project is the most recent in a variety of renewable resource plans formerly carried out by the Council. It has actually allowed us to bring back into use a brownfield site, support our continuous aspirations to decrease the Council's carbon impact and also help to reduce the running prices of the stadium so we can redirect moneying to frontline solutions."

The solar farm was made and constructed by Scottish renewables firm Absolute Solar and also Wind, while energy solutions business Horizon Power and Energy gave technological, commercial and project administration assistance to the council.

It was constructed on contaminated ground, as well as required a 2km high voltage personal cord cable to run through a public freeway to the arena, making it a "difficult project" according to Tom Newall, from Absolute Solar and Wind.

The solar farm adheres to a number of solar projects from Lancashire-based Halton Borough Council, consisting of a ₤ 10 million scheme to rollout solar on council buildings such as schools.

Ernie Shelton, supervisor at Horizon Power & Energy, stated the DCBL Stadium Halton project was a "great picture of how neighborhood authorities and also organizations can use underutilized land to lower their power expenses and also carbon footprint."