THE BOROUGH council said there are “potential financial benefits” for residents by building solar farms in the borough.
As part of its climate emergency action plan, the council aims to build four solar farms dotted across the area.
One of these could be on farmland in Barkham.
Cllr Gregor Murray, executive member for emissions, told Wokingham.Today the profits from selling the energy back to the grid can be “ploughed into local services” or deliver projects to benefit residents and businesses.
The council is aiming to sell energy back to the national grid, and negotiate an agreed price.
It is also considering using the energy locally instead — both options are still on the table.
The council hopes the solar farms will be self-funding, and generate profit or savings for the council.
Last week, Alok Sharma, Reading West MP and President for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, said clean energy is becoming the cheapest source of power all over the world.
Speaking at the Powering Past Coal Alliance Global Summit 2021, Mr Sharma said: “We must make this the year that the world gets on track to make the Paris Agreement a reality.”
He said 65% of global emissions are now covered by carbon neutrality commitments, but “we need to move faster to align short term action with this goal”.
He added: “With power accounting for a quarter of global emissions, decarbonising the sector is absolutely vital.”
Speaking with an international perspective, Mr Sharma said scale up investment in clean energy is required.
Cllr Murray added: “We are committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 and are leading by example, delivering a wide range of great projects to help reduce our carbon footprint including solar farms.
“However, we cannot do this alone – our residents and local businesses can help to reach this ambitious target and make our borough even healthier and our air even cleaner, by undertaking even small changes like recycling more, reducing journeys made by car, or even installing solar panels on their own property — every little helps.”