The Peel Group, sponsors of last week’s Northern Powerhouse Partnership event, has recommitted to its projects in the Isle of Man and has urged others to work together to see key investment of this kind delivered at the earliest opportunity.

The Peel Group has two live planning applications in the island awaiting determination.

The first would deliver the island’s first grid-scale solar farm in Malew, near Castletown, and the second is for a Science, Innovation and Research Centre (SIRC), sustainable energy park and a medicinal cannabis cultivation facility at Cooil Road in Braddan.

The former would be built by Peel Cubico Renewables (PCR).

PCR is a joint venture formed in 2021 between natural resources and energy business Peel NRE (part of Peel L&P) and Cubico Sustainable Investments, one of the world’s largest privately-owned renewable energy companies.

The Billown Solar farm would generate enough power to meet more than 7% of the Isle of Man’s current electricity demand and the project team say they are confident that by working in partnership with the Manx Utilities Authority it could supply renewable power to the local grid network at less than 10p per kilowatt hour.

If approved, the scheme could be operational by 2024 and represent the first grid scale solar farm on the island capable of supplying home-grown and secure renewable energy to local businesses and consumers.

The Cooil Road site represents a multi-million pound investment which, it is estimated, would create around 250 jobs across a range of skills, from botany and technology to security and exports.

The site is intended to establish a destination for science and technological excellence, showcasing the island’s innovation and capitalising on global growth in the sector. There would also be opportunities for agri-tech and vertical farming as part of the development.

Chris Eves, the Peel Group’s Isle of Man finance director, said: ‘Both projects have received significant public support as well as aligning with government ambitions on renewable energy and the development of the medicinal cannabis sector, helping both to diversify the island’s economy as well as meeting climate change ambitions.’

He went on: ‘We were very much encouraged by the enthusiasm and positivity at last week’s event about why the island is such a fantastic place to invest, and it was great to network with potential partners and businesses who would benefit from our schemes.

‘We look forward to working with key stakeholders over the coming weeks and months to see the potential of these projects realised.’

Both sites combined would represent an investment on the island of £180m and are currently awaiting determination by the Council of Ministers.

According to the planning department: ‘Application 22/00678/B [the Cooil Road project] is an application that falls within the definition of General Importance under Section 45A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.

‘Under Section 11 of the Act, DEFA [the department responsible for energy policy on the Isle of Man] is required to refer the application to Council for them to consider whether or not they wish to determine it and Council is required to reach a decision on whether or not they wish to call the application in for their determination.’

The Manx Utilities Authority’s stance on renewable energy projects is outlined as follows: ‘In the event of renewable capacity being sought to meet our decarbonisation goals Manx Utilities is of the opinion that the opportunity should be offered to all potential developers in a fair competitive process cognisant of Isle of Man Government’s Financial Regulations and providing permissive of the Energy legislation and policy.

‘The existing policy framework does not prevent the sale of electricity to GB via the existing interconnector.

‘However, there is no provision to sell electricity to the UK as the Isle of Man is not part of the UK. Consequently, electricity can only be sold economically to Great Britain if it is lower cost than the Great Britain wholesale electricity market at any given time.

‘Any developer wishing to sell electricity to the Great Britain via the interconnector would have to agree to limit or mitigate any commercial risk as there is no guarantee Manx Utilities would be able to resell excess power to Great Britain profitably, and any costs incurred would then be passed through to Isle of Man electricity consumers.

‘Manx Utilities is happy to discuss potential options and possible trading approaches if a developer wished to pursue this route to market.

‘Considering the comments above, Manx Utilities is supportive of schemes that assist our island on its journey to net zero.’