17 acre solar power farm plan for Tir John near Morriston

PLANS to establish a council-operated solar farm at Tir John are set to go to Cabinet next week

If approved the scheme would see the council selling green electricity generated to the national grid and help reduce the council’s carbon footprint by 3% a year until at least the year 2050.

If approved the 17-acre scheme would generate 3MW a year and make use of former landfill areas at the site.

Andrea Lewis, Cabinet Member for Homes and Energy, said the project would be another example of the council’s commitment to playing its part in supporting the provision of clean energy to local communities.

She said: “Councils around Wales are accessing Welsh Government funds to develop green energy projects that pay their own way and help cut carbon footprints.”

“As a Council, we made a commitment to tackle the Climate Emergency by significantly reducing our Carbon Footprint. We are already making some great gains across the Council, with all of our purchased energy coming from renewable sources.

“This Solar Farm could play an integral part in our ability to achieve our goal of becoming a Carbon Neutral Council.”

“Over the lifetime of the project, it should generate 101,302,731kw of energy. The Welsh Government has set out an ambition that 70% of the energy consumed in this country should be from renewable resources by 2030. This project will help with that ambition.”

The report to Cabinet on September 17 said that as a landfill site, the ground conditions are not developable. However, the ‘capped areas’ areas no longer being used for landfill could accommodate the solar farm.

At the moment around 17 acres of the 107-acre site has been earmarked for the solar farm and if Cabinet approves the project in principle, the solar farm scheme would require planning consent and would go out to public consultation as part of that process. If approved the solar farm could start delivering electricity to the grid by 2022.