RENEWABLES DIVERSIFICATION

With the recent increase in fuel costs, Ceres Property has seen renewed interest in renewable energy sources from on-farm generation right through to large scale developments.

Of particular interest is solar. Installing solar on roofs was a popular option for farmers when the Government’s Feed-in Tariff was available but after 2015, when the subsidies fell away, the cost of installation resulted in a low return on investment and the popularity dwindled. Nowadays, the technology in solar panels has improved, increasing their output and reducing their cost to a point where making the investment is stacking up again.

There are a number of steps involved in installing solar panels on farm buildings, although the ability to use permitted development in certain circumstances helps deliver these projects.

The government’s energy security strategy, published in April 2022, contained various measures to deal with the UK’s energy crisis and achieve its net-zero targets, including a pledge to ramp up solar power capacity from 14 gigawatts (GW) to 70GW by 2035. Although there is continued constraint with the grid, the delivery of large scale solar is something that is unlikely to go away in the near future.

Whilst solar is a great diversification option for landowners in these challenging times for agriculture, caution needs to be given to the type of developer delivering a solar scheme and ensuring they can suitably promote and deliver on their proposals.