Suffolk County Council 'to sell energy to grid'

Suffolk County Council has announced plans to become one of the first local authorities to start selling renewable energy into the national grid.

The council said it was seeking partners in the private sector after the government changed the rules to allow local authorities to sell energy.

The council said it aimed use a former landfill site in Bamford by installing ground-mounted solar panels.

The solar panels would generate electricity to be fed to the grid.

Judy Terry, the council's portfolio holder for the environment, said: "For the county council this proposal will create a new source of long term income, important in the current economic climate.

"The renewable energy created will also offset some of our own carbon emissions which is crucial to our aim to be the greenest county.

"I am hopeful that the success of the initial project, planned for a site adjacent to Pound Lane in Bramford, will be a catalyst to expanding the idea to sites across Suffolk."