A new £5.2 million council-owned solar farm being developed by Carillion is now complete.

The 5MWp Tangmere project, located on 25 acres of land near Chichester, Sussex, will generate enough energy to power 1,500 homes.

The scheme has been developed by Your Energy Sussex, a council-led partnership with Carillion.

The firm collaborated with SolarCentury to ensure the project generates the maximum amount of energy, while Arun Construction carried out the extensive ground works package delivering the project on time and on budget.

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Electricity produced by the solar panels will be sold back into the National Grid, earning £13.8m over 20 years through the Government's feed-in-tariff.

Planning permission for the farm has been granted for 25 years, after which time the site will be returned to its natural state.

Stephen Hodgson, project director at Carillion said:"Successfully completing this first project marks the start of a 20-year programme of work. The build has gone extremely well and we have had excellent support from our main contractors, Solarcentury and Arun Construction.

Louise Goldsmith, Leader of West Sussex County Council, added: "I am delighted to see Tangmere solar farm up and running. This is a great example of local authorities taking a lead on innovative, sustainable developments that make economic sense and benefit our residents. I'm also delighted to see that Your Energy Sussex and Carillion have used local companies to prepare the site and build the solar farm, which has benefited the local economy."

(LM/CD)