Liverpool airport plots solar farm

Liverpool John Lennon Airport in Speke wants to use the solar panels to offset 2.5m kWH’s of electricity each year – less than a quarter of what the airport regularly consumes.

According to an application for a lawful development certificate, the airport uses more than 11m kWHs of electricity a year, with the vast majority being imported from the grid.

The proposed solar farm would have a generation capacity of 3MW. It would help reduce the amount of energy the airport has to import while also helping it meet its sustainability targets.

The nearly 14-acre solar farm would sit entirely within the aerodrome boundary, on land by the eastern end of the runway to the east of Dungeon Lane and south of Hale Road. Submitted plans include 5,616 panels.

If the application is approved, construction will take between three and four months.

Pegasus Group is the planning consultant for the project.

The proposal seems to align with a recent report from Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. Rotheram issued a statement today saying LCR needs to cut its energy use in half by 2040.

The Liverpool City Region Pathway to Net Zero report described how the region will need £45bn in investment in order to meet its 2040 sustainability targets, of which £15bn would be needed to decarbonise the energy supply.

Read the full report.

Want to learn more about the solar farm? The application’s reference number with Halton Council is 22/00019/PLD.

Your Comments

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Good start to reducing carbon use. Hope the reflected glare doesn’t blind the pilots.

By Bob

Another great natural habitat for wildlife about to be ruined

By G D'ARCY

Interesting the lawful development certificates can be used to secure permission for solar farms when solar farms normally require so much supporting material. It will be interesting to watch this case unfold as I’m sure there aren’t many examples of solar farms secured via permitted development rights!

Good luck to the developer and their team!

By Anonymous

Mmmm….They will have to apply to head office based in Mcr first. Expanding the airport would be better but that won’t happen under Peel.

By Peggy

The commitment of getting the airport to be “Carbon Neural” with the aid of a solar farm is admirable and should be persued. However it is an act of absolute vandalism to one of the last remaining green belt areas in Liverpool and there is an alternative to locating the solar farm on this land within the boundaries of the airport. Building the solar farm over the top of existing car parking is absolutely an option with arguably similar costs to building it on undeveloped land.
Claiming green belt land, Peel would be literally paving the way to the airport expansion they so desperately desire but the region absolutely does not need.

We have Manchester airport, with its large runway, less than 30 miles away. Improving the transport links between Liverpool and Manchester would be a far better investment than over-developing Liverpool airport.

Moreover The City Council are committed to reducing the city’s environmental impact. Increasing air traffic would be doing precisely the opposite.

There would be no winners here, except Peel Holdings.

By Paul Richardson

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