The Labour government’s plans to expand renewable energy across the country could be “life changing” for farmers according to a planning specialist and land agent.
However, John Wallis, director at GSC Grays, warned that the UK’s electricity infrastructure remains a stumbling block for new projects. He also said that while there may be options for some farmers to contemplate using land for wind or solar farms, other landowners may face having power generation infrastructure forced upon them via Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO).
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has already approved three large-scale solar farms that were previously stuck in planning to highlight a significant shift in policy and Wallis said he expects that the government will move to trigger more projects.
He commented, “We are probably involved in 40 to 50 projects across the North of England and the majority are grid-scale solar & battery storage sites. We have also been working with a number of clients already on wind projects, and some are almost ready to go to the market because they’ve been proactive.
“In most cases the farmer isn’t involved in running, managing, or building (the projects); they are ultimately leasing their land to a developer for a period of time, and they receive an annual income from it. It can be life changing, as solar farm rents at the moment range from £850 to £1,200 per acre per annum, so it provides a really good, guaranteed income for the landowner with payments typically indexed to inflation and lasting 40 years or more. These long-term, stable income opportunities are particularly appealing in an industry often characterised by volatility.
“We’ve seen a big influx of solar schemes over the last five years, largely because the financial viability of the projects has improved. What’s happened more recently is that the price of the equipment, such as solar panels and batteries, has come down, and, of course, the energy price has gone up. Suddenly, these projects are viable on their own.”
The question of grid capacity remains a factor and Wallis points out that the national system was designed with central power stations feeding out power, rather than intermittent generation sites feeding power back in.
Wallis said, “We have a number of clients at the moment stuck in the grid queue, where they’ve made an application, potentially have planning permission or are going into planning, but haven’t been able to connect to the grid. While renewable energy schemes offer great opportunities during their operational phase, it’s also crucial to plan for what happens at the end of the term. Decommissioning costs can be substantial, so it’s essential to factor this into the planning process from the outset.”
