Former York landfill site identified as suitable area for green energy park

The council’s executive team will vote to turn the former landfill site at Harewood Whin - owned by the council, but currently leased to Yorwaste Limited - into a green energy park on February 20.

Some £243,500 of revenue funding from the York and North Yorkshire Net Zero Fund will enable the council to appoint a dedicated project manager and proceed to the next stage of project development.

Coun Kate Ravilious, joint executive member for environment and climate emergency said: “We’re really excited by the potential of the Harewood Winn Green Energy Park and delighted to have been awarded this funding to develop an outline business case.

“Solar and wind energy will play a crucial role in helping York meet its net zero commitment, but we also want to make sure that it brings benefits for local people in the form of clean, affordable energy, green jobs and a community benefit fund for example.

“We’ll be exploring all the different opportunities and hope to have done the scoping work by this autumn.”

Andy D’Agorne, who was a Green Party councillor in York between 2003 and 2023, said: “This is a welcome first step using Mayoral Combined Authority funding to develop the case for making use of this 'brownfield land' for renewable energy generation.

“It should help to demonstrate the financial as well as climate benefits of such smaller scale energy schemes which are far more cost effective than nuclear and other more centralised means of producing the electricity we will increasingly need for transport and warming our homes and other buildings.”

Development of the full business case could take several years to complete, with any implementation of the green energy park on site is unlikely to commence until the early 2030s.

The scheme would aim to make use of a combination of low-carbon technologies and solutions to maximise and optimise the renewable energy generation, carbon savings, cost savings, and revenue generation potential of the site.