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Square Mile, the financial heart of London, home to the Barbican Arts Center and Billingsgate Market, will be powered by a solar farm in Dorset thanks to an energy deal that could provide a template for other city councils to decarbonise their energy supply.

The £ 40m deal between the City of London Corporation and French renewable energy firm Voltalia will help finance the construction of the 95,000-panel solar farm in Dorset. Under the terms of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Square Mile will receive electricity from the facility for 15 years, reducing its energy costs by 3 million pounds.

The City of London Corporation claims that the agreement is the first PPA signed between a government authority and a renewable energy company. The corporation says the solar farm will provide more than half the power it needs to run Square Mile.

Image: Will Kennard