Shelved solar farm plan could be revived amid energy crisis

Plans for a huge solar farm in Oldham which were shelved during the pandemic could be brought back amid the ongoing energy crisis.

Planning permission was granted last year for the council to install 2,700 solar panels on more than 3.5 acres of land at Wrigley Head in Failsworth.

It 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’.

The town hall had already spent £120k on developing the project.

But in May of this year, officers agreed to look again at progressing the project and carry out market testing, with the findings to be presented to cabinet.

They have not yet been revealed.

The market testing would be done by using the Greater Manchester Combined Authority ‘go neutral’ procurement framework.

It would look at the outline costs, delivery and financing options, as well as the ‘practical deliverability’ in terms of meeting the planning conditions attached to the approval.

One energy supplier is now ‘informally’ offering an export price of 16p per kWh from May next year, compared to the price of 5.5p assumed when the project was drawn up.

Oldham chiefs say the solar farm would save an average of 50 tonnes of CO2 per annum over the lifetime of the scheme and cost around £1.1 million to develop.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of Oldham’s full council during public question time.

A question submitted by Ceridwen Short, read out by the Mayor, stated: “I understand that the reason the council could not go ahead with the Wrigley Head Solar Farm was because the income generated by the sale of electricity was too low to make it cost effective.

“Given the extraordinary hike in unit cost of electricity since this decision was made, is it being looked at again as the cost-benefit ratio must now be more favourable?

“Using solar panels to produce electricity must also be better than carbon-based options like fracking or extracting more gas from the North Sea?

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and low carbon said: “I agree that generating power from local renewable sources is far better than using fossil fuels.

“This particular project is currently under review and if the business case stacks up then we will definitely be doing this.

“I think we need more projects of this nature which gives us power from renewable sources but also actually in this current climate provides security and makes it cost effective which we desperately need.”

The proposed Wrigely Head 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 area was selected after several months of scoping out sites owned by the authority, with an alternative site being rejected as it was in the green belt.

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