Lancaster leisure centre solar farm would save council £130,000 a year on energy bills

The plans are included in the city council's draft budget for 2020/21, which will be agreed at a meeting at the end of February.

The 1 MW Solar Farm would cost £715,000 to build and produce 260 tonnes of renewable energy a year.

It would cost £35,800 a year to run, but would save the council £130,000 a year on energy bills from 2021/22.

The project requires six acres of land to build a 1-megawatt (MW) farm with a 1MW battery.

The electricity produced from this would be fed directly to the council owned Salt Ayre in Doris Henderson Way via a direct wire.

1MW (including a battery) would mean that the leisure centre's electricity requirements would be met by the solar farm, except for in the darkest months.

Once the land for the development has been secured, the the installation would also require a planning application.

The project, which has been developed to help address the climate emergency, is combined with the purchase of an energy management system to reduce overall energy usage across the council.