Plans to build an £11m flagship renewable energy scheme in Halton have cleared a vital hurdle.

Halton Council’s ruling executive board recently voted to approve launching a procurement process for the Halton Micro Grid – the borough’s own clean energy infrastructure.

The grid would harness energy from solar panels and heat pumps and then direct it to council buildings including the Municipal Building on Kingsway, Lowerhouse Lane Depot and the new leisure centre on Moor Lane.

The plans include increasing the size of the existing solar farm on the former St Michael’s Golf Course in Widnes by installing a combination of additional rooftop and solar farm panels to bring the total installed capacity to 5.1MW. The solar farm extension would be supported by a battery storage scheme in order to maximise the use of solar power overnight.

The wider project would also see a £460K contribution to the new Moor Lane leisure centre heat pumps and £454K for electric charging infrastructure at the council’s Lowerhouse Lane depot.

Council buildings connected to the grid would use 67 per cent of the energy generated, equating to 26,839 tonnes of carbon dioxide savings over the lifetime of the project.

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority will provide £2.5m of the funding for the £11m project, with the remainder being raised via a loan which the council intends to pay back with the electricity it generates.

The project will also act as a demonstrator project for the LCR and could provide a model to be replicated across the sub-region on differing scales.

The executive board recently voted to put the work out to tender for construction, design and maintenance – but the final decision must be approved by Full Council tonight (Wednesday).

Speaking at the executive board meeting, Cllr Phil Harris, executive board member for climate change, said it would provide a green energy boost to the borough.

Also speaking at the meeting, Cllr Tom McInerney welcomed the grant funding from the LCR, adding: “For those people have any doubts about whether we should be in the Liverpool City Region, when you combine that with a massive amount of money we’ve had over the last few years since we’ve been in, there is no doubt that was the right decision to make.”