A solar field at a former landfill site will help York face increasing uncertainty in global energy supplies, a senior councillor has said.
City of York Council’s Labour environment spokesperson Cllr Jenny Kent said the Harewood Whin green energy park would make the city less reliant on energy coming the Middle East and the US.
Chief strategy officer Claire Foale said the project could initially save the council up to £195,000-a-year but there were challenges with the currently favoured approach of building it in phases.
It comes after the executive backed progressing with the planned site, in Tinker Lane, Rufforth, last Tuesday (2 September).
Councillors approved drawing up a full business case following two initial proposals and the approval of plans for ground mounted solar panels generating up to 16.5MW in April.
The completion of the full business case will be subject to the council receiving York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority funding which Ms Foale said was currently uncertain.
The project was scaled back from the 28MW initially planned due to safety concerns over panels glinting at aircraft using the nearby Rufforth East Airfield.
Power generated by up to 16.5MW would be enough to power around 11,000 homes and council estimates put potential earnings at between £7 million and £17 million over 30 years.
Options currently being explored would see the project built in phases, with 1MW generated during the first stage for current site leaseholders Yorwaste by 2027 under proposed timescales.
It would be followed by a second phase generating 5MW by 2028 for the council.
The power from that phase could save the council at least half of the £195,000-a-year it spends on its Green Energy Tariff through offsetting.
A further 10MW phase could cover the whole cost and that would be connected to the grid in 2029, subject to future decisions about the project.
Planning approval for the scheme expires in April 2028, with a new application required for a potential fourth phase bringing the scheme back up to the originally intended 28MW.
Intial phases of the project could be funded through loans of up to £5 million which would be repaid by earnings from the site once it is operational.
But council official Ms Foale previously said inflation posed a risk to the scheme and there was no guarantee that volatility in the energy market would settle down.
Speaking at Tuesday’s executive meeting, environment spokesperson Cllr Kent said the scheme had been drawn up using a considered approach.
Cllr Kent said: “Now more than ever we’ve got uncertainty around the world and our previous sources of energy are not reliable.
“They’re polluting and killing our planet, the recent fires on the North Yorkshire Moors are a reminder that we need to act now before climate change gets worse, this is a great step on York’s journey.”
Liberal Democrat opposition leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said his group also backed the scheme which was first drawn up when his party was in coalition with the Greens.
Cllr Ayre said: “This is one of the most complex schemes the council will deliver.”
