Manchester City has confirmed plans to make its training facility, the City Football Academy, one of the largest producers of renewable energy in world football.
The club are seeking planning permission from Manchester City Council to install 10,887 solar panels which will generate up to 4.39 MWh of renewable energy every year – enough energy to power more than 2,000 homes.
The goal is to completely offset the City Football Academy’s annual usage, become extremely sustainable and also share the power with the Etihad Stadium.
More than 3,000 panels will be located on the roof of the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium, which is home to Manchester City Women, while a further 3,942 will be located on the roofs of other facilities on site such as the First Team and Academy Building.
An additional 3,830 panels will be installed on frames over footpaths and pitch-side areas of the City Football Academy.
Manchester City have had a commitment to using clean energy and reducing carbon emissions for a while and as stated in their 2016-2025 strategic plan, look to become world football’s most sustainable club.
Pete Bradshaw, the Club’s director of Sustainability commented on this huge announcement for the club.
“It is with great excitement that we can reveal our plans to completely offset the power required to run the day-to-day operations of the City Football Academy, by becoming one of football’s largest producers of self-supplied, renewable energy,” he said in a club press release.
“Over many years, we have adopted increasingly sustainable practices across the Club, ranging from the removal of all single-use plastic on a matchday to reusing rainwater and recycling more than 70% of our waste.
“As we look ahead on our roadmap to being net carbon zero by 2030, we know that the production and consumption of renewable energy has an incredibly important role to play, which is why we are delighted at the prospect of installing over 10,800 solar panels at our home in Manchester.”
Manchester City built the academy facility over a decade ago and has since turned it into a state-of-the-art home to the men’s, women’s and academy training facilities as well as a purpose-built stadium for the Manchester City Women’s team.
Now the focus for the club has been on reaching a gold standard under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines (L.E.E.D) which is the world’s most widely used green building rating system.
The current Premier League champions are making another leap forward in becoming sustainable and are really committed to pushing their ‘energy agenda’ that has existed since 2016.
