Solar farm being constructed behind Entwistle Road

The first publicly owned solar farm in Greater Manchester is being constructed on around one acre of contaminated land behind Rochdale Leisure Centre, on Entwistle Road

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The first publicly owned solar farm in Greater Manchester is being constructed on around one acre of contaminated land behind Rochdale Leisure Centre, on Entwistle Road.

The 250kW photovoltaic (PV) solar farm will operate for up to 25 years and will then be decommissioned or the panels will be replaced.

Work has also begun on adding 100kw rooftop solar panels to Heywood Sports Village. The electricity generated from both the Rochdale and Heywood solar panels will be sold back to Link4Life to power the sports complexes.

The solar farms are being built by Southern Solar, whose managing director Howard Johns attended the turf cutting. The council has received technical support from Robin Dummet, of Novus Solar Development.

Mr Johns said: “We are very excited to be involved with such a forward thinking project and a proactive council.”

Councillor Richard Farnell, Leader of Rochdale Council, said: “Faced with making savings of £51m over the next two years, we needed to come up with imaginative solutions in tough economic times and come up with an alternative as traditional energy sources become scarcer.

“Options for this site were limited, due to its former use as a waste disposal site and contamination present, so the solar farm has allowed the council to turn this land from a liability to a productive asset.”