Tower Bridge is among the sites to be powered by the green energy
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Tower Bridge, the Old Bailey and Smithfield market are to be powered with renewable energy from a giant solar farm in Dorset.
More than 91,000 solar panels have been erected on farmland under a £40m deal between the City of London Corporation, which runs many key locations in the capital, and the French energy firm Voltalia.
The City Corporation will buy all the energy from the solar farm, near Blandford Forum, for the next 15 years. It has a capacity of 49.9 megawatts – equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of about 15,000 homes.
Other sites that will also receive the “green” energy include the Guildhall, Hampstead Heath, the Barbican, and Billingsgate and New Spitalfields markets.
With energy bills soaring due to the war in Ukraine, this should save the City Corporation about £3m a year and help it move towards becoming “carbon neutral” by 2040.
But countryside campaigners warn farmland is being lost to solar farms at a time the UK’s “food security” is under threat.
Rupert Hardy, from the Dorset branch of CPRE, the countryside charity, told the Standard: “This is good arable land that has been taken out of production to lay solar panels.
“It would have been far better if an appropriate number of roofs had been covered with panels to provide this power.
“We would far prefer that the land was used to provide food for Dorset rather than electricity for London.”
The deal was struck in 2020 and is believed to be the first between a UK local authority and a renewable energy firm.
The wind farm was connected earlier this week, a couple of months behind schedule. It will start supplying the City Corporation from January 1.
Schools and social housing run by the City Corporation will also be powered by the renewable energy.
Keith Bottomley, chairman of the City Corporation’s environment committee, said: “This scheme is a pioneering blueprint for local authorities across the UK, cutting carbon emissions and giving cheaper, more secure energy, protected from the price volatility of energy markets.
“The deal will increase our green energy supply, has no reliance on taxpayer funding, and helps us transition quickly away from fossil fuels.”
Sébastien Clerc, chief executive of Voltalia, said: “In the current energy crisis, we are very proud to supply clean and cheap electricity to some of London’s most iconic landmarks.”
The City Corporation’s £68m climate action strategy commits it to reaching net zero in its own operations by 2027, and in its investments and supply chain by 2040 – with the aim of the whole Square Mile being carbon neutral by the same year.
