A new solar farm has been installed at an existing wind turbine site in Bristol, the council has announced.

The project is expected to generate enough power for over 4,000 homes and save over 7,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The new solar PV farm has a 1.8MW capacity and is estimated to generate 1.85GWh annually.

It was built by renewable energy companies Benu Energy and Ikaros Solar in December 2015.


George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol, said: "As I said at the COP21 climate talks in Paris, we have the lowest per capita carbon emissions of all large UK cities, and, following on our success as European Green Capital we are now stepping up our ambitions, committing to becoming a carbon neutral city by 2050.

"With these 7,000 solar panels we'll more than double our existing capacity, adding to the 6,500 which the council has helped put around the city to date."

The council's most recent climate and energy strategy committed to citywide CO2 reductions of 40% by 2020, 50% by 2025, 60% by 2035 and 80% by 2050.

(LM/MH)