A floating solar farm with a capacity of 3MW will be installed in Greater Manchester.

UK water company United Utilities claims it will be the largest of its kind in Europe.

The project costs £3.5 million and will consist of 12,000 solar panels floating in the firm’s Godley reservoir which will generate 2.7GWh of electricity per year.

It is scheduled to be completed before Christmas this year.

Chris Stubbs, head of renewable energy at United Utilities said the project is part of the company’s goal to generate 35% of its power requirements by 2020.

He added: “As part of United Utilities energy strategy to generate more power we identified the Godley reservoir as a suitable site to install a floating solar array to provide the water treatment works with approximately 33% of its energy requirements.

“While floating solar has been deployed elsewhere around the world, most notably in Japan, it is a new technology to the UK. Installations such as the Godley solar scheme will help us to keep energy costs and water customers’ bills low.”