Last week saw the publication of ‘Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms’ which has spurred on my post about Solar, the first prong being- solar- where are we now? There are some interesting changes afoot… And the second being a bit about this publication which gives guidance on farming around / under a solar farm…
Solar update
So- where are we with solar at the moment? There have always been two tiers of solar, small on farm schemes (generally up to 250kW) that are supported by the Feed In Tariff (FiT) and larger schemes (generally from 2MW to over 20MW) that are supported by Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs). There will be a minor change to FiTs in January, but this is likely to be a minor decrease and still means on farm solar projects are viable and good plan. A 250kW system covering approximately an acre will cost between £250,000 and £300,000 and will provide an income of between £36,000 and £48,000 per annum depending on on-site usage. These schemes are especially good if you have a high electricity usage, e.g. broiler units, intensive dairies or a diversified commercial premises etc…
ROCs will stay for schemes up to 5MW. These are 25 – 30 acre schemes, generally these are done on a lease as investment would be in the region of £5M. Rental returns would be in the region of £700 to £900 per acre depending on location.
The ROCs on larger schemes (above 5MW) are changing fairly drastically, they are being abolished and will be replaced by Contracts for Difference (CfD). This will happen in April.
A CfD is a private law contract between a low carbon electricity generator and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), a government-owned company. A generator party to a CfD is paid the difference between the ‘strike price’ – a price for electricity reflecting the cost of investing in a particular low carbon technology – and the ‘reference price’– a measure of the average market price for electricity in the GB market. It gives greater certainty and stability of revenues to electricity generators by reducing their exposure to volatile wholesale prices, whilst protecting consumers from paying for higher support costs when electricity prices are high.
We are yet to see how these changes will affect the solar industry, the likelihood is rents will have to reduce and only the best sites with the cheapest grid connections will be viable.
Farming around solar farms
The Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms has mainly been produced by the NFU and the BRE National Solar Centre with contributions from lots of different companies… The booklet describes experience and principles of good practice to date for the management of small livestock in solar farms established on agricultural land, derelict/marginal land and previously-developed land.
It tells you which farming options are viable around the arrays and which are not and how they fit in with CAP and BPS etc… It also includes some case studies (which I personally really like in these types of publications – makes it all a bit more relative!)
You can read the full booklet here: http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/nsc/Documents%20Library/NSC%20Publications/NSC_-Guid_Agricultural-good-practice-for-SFs_0914.pdf
21.10.14- Since I originally wrote this post we have had an update from gov.uk that solar farms will not be eligible for BPS, the press release reads:
Farmers will lose their right to claim subsidies for fields filled with solar panels under new plans to ensure more agricultural land is dedicated to growing crops and food. The move will help rural communities who do not want their countryside blighted by solar farms.
Britain has some of the best farmland in the world and ministers want to see it dedicated to agriculture to help boost our food and farming industry that is worth £97 billion to the economy.
You can read the whole article here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/subsidies-for-solar-farms-to-be-cut-to-help-safeguard-farmland
If you have any renewables questions or would like to discuss any of the above further, do drop me a line, or James Fulton, our renewables chap! His details are here: http://www.berrybros.com/people/james-fulton
Blonde Ag Advisor 
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