British Gas, Wrexham Council open 2.6-MW solar farm

Energy supplier British Gas and Wrexham Council on Wednesday opened a 2.64-MWp solar farm in Legacy, Wales.

The GBP-2.5-million (USD 3.9m/EUR 3.5m) installation is the first owned and run by a local authority in Wales, according to a British Gas statement. It uses 8,800 Tata Power Solar panels installed on agricultural land.

The facility is expected to generate enough electricity a year to meet the needs of 700 homes. The power will be supplied to the local electricity network and any surplus will be fed into national distribution network. The solar farm will also provide income to the council through the feed-in tariff payments.

"This project is extremely important - it proves that solar energy is a sound investment not just for commercial organisations but also for councils and the public sector in Wales," said Chris Morrison, head of solar at British Gas Business.

The solar farm was designed, built and commissioned by British Gas. It follows a 13,000-solar panel installation completed by the company for the Toyota plant at Deeside, northern Wales, in August 2014.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.573/EUR 1.395)

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