Select a region
A solar farm that could power up to 11 homes will be installed on top of St. Helier's recycling centre, with income going towards carbon neutrality measures, after parishioners unanimously approved the plan last night.
The parish developed proposals for the Grande Route de St. Jean building alongside Jersey Electricity (JEC).
Solar panels are given a rating in kWp, the rate at which they generate energy at peak performance, such as on a sunny day.
The new farm is expected to generate 86kWp, which is enough to supply 11 average homes.
"The electricity generated from the solar farm will be connected back to the Jersey Electricity grid. It is proposed that there will be 222 solar panels fitted to the roof which is 832 sqm," a report explaining the proposal said.
Pictured: A mock-up of what the installation will look like. (Parish of St. Helier)
After the project was given approval yesterday, St. Helier will now enter into a 25-year lease agreement contract with JEC for £2,100 per year, increasing in line with inflation during the term of lease. Jersey Electricity will be expected to build and maintain the solar farm.
It's part of the parish's bid to work towards carbon neutrality by 2025-230 after declaring a 'climate emergency' in 2019.
Since then, it has worked to move its fleet from petrol and diesel to electric, moved towards electric heating and cooking facilities rather than fossil fuel-powered, and supported community smallholding projects like GROW.
Pictured: The location of the solar panel installation. (Parish of St. Helier)
The Parish said the funding generated by the solar farm project will "be used for the upkeep and maintenance of the Recycle Centre building and towards climate emergency initiatives, such as electric vehicle charging points and running costs."
Meanwhile, St. Clement is investigating hosting the island's first ground-mounted solar farm, and an open evening was held earlier this month.
Jersey Electricity is looking to set up the electricity-generating panels at on 12 acres of fields south of Rue du Moulin à Vent JEC said it should be able to remain in agricultural usage.
Pictured: The potential solar site in St. Clement is based along Le Moulin à Vent and JEC said it will remain in agricultural usage, with solar panels taking up less than 15% of site area.
Jersey Electricity says its overall ambition is to generate 11 million kWh a year, enough to power more than 1,500 Jersey homes a year.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.