Solar farms

llamedos

New Member
Comment from the Solar industry.

Farmers will no longer be eligible for any farm subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for land from January 2015.

The department of environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) claims that the move “will help rural communities who do not want their countryside blighted by solar farms”.

Environment secretary, Elizabeth Truss said: “English farmland is some of the best in the world and I want to see it dedicated to growing quality food and crops. I do not want to see its productive potential wasted and its appearance blighted by solar farms. Farming is what our farms are for and it is what keeps our landscape beautiful.”

Defra claims that the move will save up to £2 million of taxpayers’ money each year. The department says that the move is designed to mirror the department of energy and climate change’s (DECC) recent move to scrap renewable obligation support for solar farms over 5MW from April 2015.

Defra says that it is enacting the changes to “slow down the growth of solar farms in the countryside in England” as it is now “less financially attractive for farmers to install the solar panels”.

Truss concluded: “I am committed to food production in this country and it makes my heart sink to see row upon row of solar panels where once there was a field of wheat or grassland for livestock to graze.

“That is why I am scrapping farming subsidies for solar fields. Solar panels are best placed on the 250,000 hectares of south-facing commercial rooftops where they will not compromise the success of our agricultural industry.”

Reacting to the news, Friends of the Earth renewable energy campaigner Alasdair Cameron said: “Constantly fiddling with renewable energy policies and sending mixed messages to the media will cost Britain dearly in jobs, investment and energy security. Done correctly, solar farms can go hand-in-hand with food production, boost biodiversity and deliver clean electricity to the nation. Poorly-sited solar farms should be dealt with through the planning system and sensible policy, not knee jerk responses to appease reactionary voices.”

Solar Power Portal will update this story with further news and reaction as the story develops
http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/n...eds&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news-rss-feed
 

fudge

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire.
Yes this is undoubtable bad news. OK there is enough fossil fuel to go round but setting fire to it all is a bad idea. AD is crazy waste of resources whilst solar can only get more efficient as technology improves. Farmers should be up in arms about this!!!!
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Yes this is undoubtable bad news. OK there is enough fossil fuel to go round but setting fire to it all is a bad idea. AD is crazy waste of resources whilst solar can only get more efficient as technology improves. Farmers should be up in arms about this!!!!
Those AD plants should be baned not subsidised
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
Am I right in thinking this is purely a SFP issue? Ie no more SFP if the land has solar panels on it?

If so its hardly going to stop the industry in its tracks is it, when the rents available for solar are still £800-1000/acre, index linked for 25 years. Getting £80/acre on top for SFP is just the icing on the cake. Indeed in 25 years there most likely wont be any SFP, or it'll be worth tuppence ha'penny. I can't see farmers turning down £800/acre in solar rents just because they'll lose £80/acre SFP.
 

fudge

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire.
Am I right in thinking this is purely a SFP issue? Ie no more SFP if the land has solar panels on it?

If so its hardly going to stop the industry in its tracks is it, when the rents available for solar are still £800-1000/acre, index linked for 25 years. Getting £80/acre on top for SFP is just the icing on the cake. Indeed in 25 years there most likely wont be any SFP, or it'll be worth tuppence ha'penny. I can't see farmers turning down £800/acre in solar rents just because they'll lose £80/acre SFP.
+1 but it surely follows that SFP should be removed from crops specifically grown for AD. Nothing wrong with AD if the feedstock is pure waste!
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
A chap near here is going to do a hundred mile round trip for maze for AD
really environmentally friendly that
just as well burn some coal
 

kelpiekid

Member
Location
North Wales
How do you get sheep out from under the rows and rows of panels if they don't want to come out, say its very hot or a sheep is sick. How do you check/see the sheep especially if the solar area is a big one. Does anyone have experiece of grazing sheep like this. I would appreciate any comments as I have been told we are getting a solar field and they will want it grazed. By the way I have never seen an actual solar field yet.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
I do not see any problems getting sheep out from the panels any more than losing them in a corner of a field.
You can drive down the rows and a good dog would have rousted them out I would have thought.
The panels only have so many posts holding them down
 
Location
Cheshire
How do you get sheep out from under the rows and rows of panels if they don't want to come out, say its very hot or a sheep is sick. How do you check/see the sheep especially if the solar area is a big one. Does anyone have experiece of grazing sheep like this. I would appreciate any comments as I have been told we are getting a solar field and they will want it grazed. By the way I have never seen an actual solar field yet.

The majority of our solar farms are grazed and farmers have had no issues. The panels are installed with 900mm clearance which gives a dog visibility across the field. Additionally vehicles can drive between rows.

In fact farmers have even said that they can graze the land more intensively and for longer in the year due to the shelter offered by the Solar rows.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
The majority of our solar farms are grazed and farmers have had no issues. The panels are installed with 900mm clearance which gives a dog visibility across the field. Additionally vehicles can drive between rows.

In fact farmers have even said that they can graze the land more intensively and for longer in the year due to the shelter offered by the Solar rows.
The grass can't be as good though
 

Big Al

Member
Location
Middlewich
The grass can't be as good though

It'll probably be like that lush green stuff that grows under the shade of a hedge or a tree. It looks so good because the sheep refuse to eat it, probably tastes bitter due to low sugar content.

Panels could be quite good for providing shelter for outdoor lambings though.
 
A 2 MW AD plant will generate approx. 17,000Mw/hr of electric p.a. That will use 2000 acres of crops. A 20 MW solar farm on 90 acres will do the same.

Have you adjusted for the different capacity factors of AD versus solar? Still agree with your main point though. Solar is way more efficient than AD (especially if you take into account haulage, soil degradation, water pollution, agrochemical inputs etc.).
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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