If it gets the green light, its wind turbine and around 17,000 solar panels, alongside battery storage, will deliver power both to the business and to the local community.
The 40-year project will save GA an estimated £34.1m over its life, and deliver a secure low cost zero-carbon energy supply.
Ed Miliband
And she adds: “This should be a policy decision agreed across all political parties. It needs to be a long-term target with financial commitment.”
Businesses in Lancashire are focused on energy efficiency and sustainability. In 2026, energy isn’t just something managed in the background. It’s becoming a key part of how competitive and resilient an organisation is.
Last year’s independent, government backed Willow Review Report found that 67 per cent of SMEs that adopted sustainable practices, like installing solar panels or selling energy back to the grid, reported reduced operational costs – a clear return on investment.
Generating electricity on site helps shield companies from fluctuating market prices and enhances longer-term operational resilience. Combined with battery storage, solar installations can smooth periods of high demand and reduce exposure to external supply volatility.
Crow Wood, the multi-award-winning hotel and spa resort in Burnley, has created a solar farm on its grounds. The 1MW farm, with its 2,200- plus solar panels generates enough clean energy to power around 350 homes annually. It is all about on-site self-sufficient, renewable energy delivering commercially for the venue.
Speaking last year Oliver Brown, managing director at Crow Wood, said: “With rising energy use from facility investments and market conditions, this was a strong long- term investment and a good Corporate Social Responsibility initiative that resonates.”
In the Lancashire village of Bretherton, local firm GA Pet Food Partners is partnering with the parish council in a pioneering project to deliver a renewable energy park.
Those behind the joint venture say it will enable the energy intensive business to significantly transition to renewable wind and solar power and help protect it against future volatility.
Expert View
MAKING A GENUINE DIFFERENCE By Michael Dugdale,
Managing director, Trident
There’s a noticeable shift happening in how businesses are approaching ‘green’ electricity.
It’s no longer just about ticking a box; it’s about being able to confidently stand behind the decisions you’ve made. More and more of our conversations are asking the question: how do we know this is genuinely making a difference?
That’s where half-hourly matching starts to come into its own. Rather than relying on broad, annualised reporting, it links your electricity consumption with renewable generation within the same half-hour periods.
It doesn’t change how the grid works, but it does create a far more accurate and transparent way of attributing renewable energy to your usage. In simple terms, it gives you a clearer, more defensible position on your Scope 2 reporting, and that matters when you’re being challenged by customers, investors or your own board.
This shift is being driven by two things. First, increased scrutiny around how renewable electricity is evidenced, with potential changes to certification
frameworks pushing businesses to think more carefully about credibility.
Second, the past few years have shown just how exposed UK businesses are to global energy markets, with geopolitical disruption driving volatility and making long-term planning difficult. That’s why this is no longer just a sustainability conversation, it’s a commercial one.
When structured properly, these types of arrangements can give access to longer- term pricing linked to renewable generation portfolios. In some cases, that means securing a low-carbon, more price-stable position over the next five to ten years, without the complexity of traditional large- scale procurement routes.
We are seeing growing interest from organisations looking for a practical step forward, not by overcomplicating procurement, but by connecting them to solutions that better align purchasing with reporting.
Aggregated models are helping bridge that gap, giving businesses greater confidence in both their energy strategy and the claims that sit behind it.
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And five per cent of all generated electricity will be routed directly to the village, allowing capacity for conversion from carbon-based heating.
A planning application was submitted to Chorley Council in December and the Bretherton Energy Partnership is currently working through the consultation process.
David Colgan, head of environmental and energy at GA Pet Food Partners, says: “Things are moving in a positive direction.”
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