Bentley plans solar-powered factory

BENTLEY Motors in Crewe is planning a major investment in solar panels that will cover around 430,000 sq ft of its factory roof.

But proposed changes to the rates the Government is willing to pay for energy sold back into the grid could derail the project.

The luxury car maker, which is owned by Volkswagen, wants to cover half its factory – an area the size of six football pitches – with the panels to generate 4,050 megawatt hours a year and save around 2,000 tonnes of carbon.

It will use this to power production at the plant and plans to channel some back into the National Grid to help cover the cost of the scheme which has not been disclosed.

The feed-in tariff system currently offers favourable rates to subsidise the move to alternative energy. A large scheme like Bentley’s would attract a rate of 30.7p per kilowatt hour but if the proposals are adopted this will drop more than 70% to 8.5p.

The Government said it wants to increase support for anaerobic disgestion plants and limit the cash available to large scale solar farms to prevent them from taking too much of the scheme’s £360m budget.

A spokesman for Bentley said: “We’re hoping we can still get this in and approved before it changes. Under the amended system it may not be worth our while.

“We’ve wanted to do it for a long time. We have a big site here and we’re always looking at ways to improve our environmental efficiency.”

Planning officers at Cheshire East Council have recommended the project is approved by councillors when they meet on June 1.