Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) has tasked property services firm Styles&Wood with the development of a 2.2MW ground-mounted solar array to power its resource recovery facility.
Styles&Wood will work with GMWDA’s technical advisory firm AMEC Foster Wheeler to design and install the system, which is expected to cost £2 million.
The generated electricity will be used to power the three main facilities at the site, which is located on brownfield land. Styles&Wood head, Ian Dunning said the installation would help reduce GMWDA’s energy consumption “significantly”.
Dunning also said the government’s feed-in tariff had made solar “one of the most viable ways of generating electricity” at small scales, something which had led more and more companies like GMWDA turning to the technology.
“This has led to third party investors setting aside funds for these projects with the feed-in tariff providing a return on investment through solar deals – enabling systems to be constructed without the need for organisations to source the initial capital,” Dunning added.
Councillor Catherine Piddington, who also serves as the chair of GMWDA, praised the Salford Road facility’s operations and said the addition of the solar array would make them more efficient and more environmentally friendly”.
GMWDA was created under the Local Government Act 1985 and provides disposal services for more than a million households across Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.