Plans to buy a solar farm to curb CO2 emissions have been abandoned by Manchester council.
New documents from the authority reveal that bosses made a ‘non-binding’ offer to purchase a ‘large scale solar photovoltaic (PV) facility’. The location of the facility has yet to be disclosed.
The council’s executive are set to rubber-stamp the report which confirms chiefs pulled out of the deal, but also clarifies that the council is interested in arranging a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). A PPA would allow the borough to purchase green electricity directly from an energy producer.
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“In November 2022, officers identified a potentially suitable large scale solar photovoltaic (PV) facility available for purchase and submitted an initial non-binding offer to the developer,” said newly-released council papers. “A report on the potential purchase was made to Executive in January 2023.
“However, during the Council’s detailed assessment of the proposition, the Council took the decision to withdraw from this potential purchase as the site did not pass our due diligence thresholds for viability and therefore did not offer a sound investment opportunity for the Council.”
Despite abandoning the plans, official advice from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research is to secure a PPA. the report went on: “Since the last report to executive in January 2023, Council officers have continued to explore suitable renewable energy supply options considering the available options for an asset purchase, such as a solar farm, or purchase of renewable energy via a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
“Advice from Tyndall is that MCC will likely remain within its science-based carbon budget by 2025 through its existing programme of actions to reduce CO2 emissions across our estate, street-lighting, fleet and staff business travel; planning and action is needed now to ensure that the 2025-30 carbon budget is not exceeded; and using a solar PV farm or a PPA is recommended to meet carbon targets where additional renewable electricity generation is created by MCC and applied to reduce electricity related emissions.”
Further commercial advice from Ernst & Young recommended that the authority go for a PPA over a solar farm due to ‘the availability of suitable sites, risks and benefits, and the availability of sites and PPAs on the market’.
