Developer sought for solar facility
THE European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) Renewable Energy Scheme is looking at candidates for the £1.3M development contract of a Solar Farm to be built on the closed St Michael’s Golf Course, on the south side of the A562 Speke Road.
Plans to develop the 1MW Solar Farm were approved in October 2017 on part of the course that was closed when arsenic was found on the site in 2004.
The contract will last around eight months, with plans to start in January 2019. After an initial two year warranty period there will be an ongoing maintenance contract for the lifetime of the system, estimated to be around 25-30 years.
The scheme will utilise a council asset that has been unused for many years and is deemed ● unsuitable for any major development.
Plans for what the electricity will be used for have not yet been decided. They are also set for discussion. There are two options currently on the table, one being a private wire to Halton Stadium. This would use around 45% of the energy generated at the farm and reduce the Stadium’s running costs over the system lifetime. The extra energy would be sold on to a third party under a Power Purchase Agreement. The total offset of the lifetime are in the region of £975,000 (according to 2018 prices). It is estimated that after 10 years the council will also benefit from energy sales.
The second is the council entering a Power Purchase agreement where it would be able to use all electricity generated. If able to do this, it would increase offset costs to around £92,000 per year with no extra energy to be resold.
The financial merits of both options are currently being discussed to see which is most economically advantageous.
The project will also contribute to the council’s ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions alongside a number of other renewable energy schemes.
Providing locally generated renewable energy will help with removing the reliance on fossil based fuels and reaching the targets set by the Government; to reduce carbon emission between 2028-32 to 57% below the levels in 1990.
It will also be a demonstrator project for the Liverpool City Region and provide a model to be replicated on differing scales.
The scheme can be funded at 50% ERDF, with the council providing a 50% match as part of the agreement which will be provided from the Capital Programme Environmental Fund.