Neston Community Energy receives grant funding in first year
The volunteer-run organisation has been handed £38,000 from the Community Energy Fund and could turn landfill into a renewable energy park.
The grant will be used to obtain a feasibility study to investigate if landfill from the Clayhill Industrial Estate, located next to the Neston Recycling Centre, Cheshire, could be used as the site for a new solar park.
Scene Connect Ltd, a consultancy specialising in local energy initiatives, will conduct the assessment, taking into consideration location suitability and the financial viability of difference schemes. This follows a recommendation from Transport, Highways and Climate Change Department officers at Cheshire West and Chester council to look at authority-owned landfill sites as potential options for solar facilities, transforming land which is otherwise considered unusable.
Work on the study has already started and there has been an initial inspection of the site. There will be further surveys and events are planned for members of the public to see preliminary proposals early next year.
‘We are a community benefit society with local people at the heart of our efforts to increase green energy generation locally, reduce reliance on central supplies and reduce emissions,’ said Susan Davies, Chair of Neston Community Energy Limited. ‘If a scheme is successful, it can produce financial benefits which can be returned to the local community in a variety of ways. We hope that as many people as possible will come to the planned events in January and February 2025, not only to find out about the Clayhill project, but also to find out more about what we do.’
More on energy:
Bradford’s £75m decarbonised heat network is a blueprint for the UK
Image: Emmet via Pexels