The Government’s Mayoral Renewables Fund has granted Derbyshire County Council £700,000 to help turn a part of Williamthorpe Colliery into a 2MW solar farm.

The Mayoral Renewables Fund, a strand of Great British Energy, is designed to help support Combined Authorities create renewable energy generation projects. The new farm of around 14,000 ground-mounted panels will be built on reclaimed from the former coal mine near Chesterfield, with a completion date in Spring 2026.

Williamthorpe Colliery operated from 1905 until it closed in 1970 and is currently a nature reserve.

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