Manchester City Council says it’s “on track” to installing almost 10,000 new solar panels across the city by the end of 2023.
It may sound ambitious, but Manchester is well on its way to becoming home to a whopping 9,859 new solar panels in total before the year is out, which will ultimately help the city along its way to reaching the all-important target of becoming zero-carbon by 2038.
The installation of the new solar panels is said to be “a key part” of the Council’s five-year ‘Climate Change Action Plan’.
Continuing on with the mission to reduce carbon emissions from local buildings by using renewable energy and energy efficiency measures – which the Council pledged £6 million towards back in June of last year – a total of 6,897 solar panels have been installed at Council-run sites since 2022, and an additional 2,962 have been commissioned / or are in the pipeline to be delivered, before the end of this year.
Hough End Leisure Centre, the Wythenshawe Forum, and Moss Side Leisure Centre are some of the locations where new solar panels have already been installed, while Didsbury Library, and the Manchester Aquatic Centre, are expected to have see them soon.
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Almost 10,000 new solar panels to be installed across Manchester by end of 2023 / Credit: Gustavo Fring (via Pexels)
“This work shows that tangible progress is being made as the Council works to become a zero-carbon organisation,” Councillor Tracey Rawlins, who is the Executive Member for Environment and Transport, at Manchester City Council, said of the new solar panels target.
“Renewables such as solar power, even in rainy Manchester, provide a viable and unlimited source of energy for buildings across the city.”
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One of the major renewable energy projects that has already been carried out as part of the zero-carbon mission is in a bid to, what the Council has described as, “turn pedal power into solar power” down at the Nation Cycling Centre – where solar car ports that provide shelter for vehicles, all while still generating power from solar panels installed on top, have been installed.
As a Council we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint and rely more on renewable energy sources.
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 26, 2023
The recently-completed £2.9m project at what is “one of the most energy-dependent buildings within the Council’s estate” has been delivered the Council in partnership with Energy Systems Catapult and the European Regional Development Fund, and is said to be “an important pillar” of the Council’s overall carbon reduction plan.
In the eight weeks since the solar panels at the Velodrome went live, they have generated more than 47MWh of electricity, according to the Council, which is saving an estimated nine tonnes of carbon.
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Roughly around 172MWh of electricity is estimated to be generated annually.
“Looking at the National Cycling Centre, we have shown that we are able to seamlessly incorporate the use of renewable energy into the existing infrastructure,” Cllr Tracey Rawlins added.
“This sets a clear example of how this approach can be replicated across the city.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Manchester band Westside Cowboy release ‘thrilling’ debut album that critics are calling one of the year’s best
Emily Sergeant
One of the UK’s best rising bands have released their debut album today to glowing reviews from critics and fans alike.
Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.
After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.
Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.
Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)
If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).
And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.
Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.
They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.
Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.
So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.
Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.
Take a listen👇
Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)
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UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn
Emily Sergeant
The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.
It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.
The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.
The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.
“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.
“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’
Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.
It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.
Emily Sergeant -
27th July 2023 
