COVERING GOOD FOOD GROWING LAND WITH SOLAR PANELS?

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Tidal power makes all of the solar and wind power generating look like a bad joke. Massive, predictable and strangely not considered, probably not enough job creation.
Tidal has potential but also many problems. In many places it corrupts the hydrology of river estuaries with great environmental damage as a result.

Hydro is even better, generating truly 24/7, but again causes big ecological issues in many cases.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
So very very roughly subsidy income per acre per year is around £12,000. Elec sales varies obviously but around £10-12,000 per acre per year average. So very roughly £600k total without factoring in index linking and increase in elec sale price.

I’ve seen mentioned cost of infrastructure replacement mentioned. It’s peanuts. I know of a site that after 3 years had 10,000 panels replaced for something better.
On average, you would expect to place about 250KWp per acre, which should generate about 250,000 KWh (units) per year. Rhis should give an income around £15,000.
Of course first thing they pay is rates
There is no subsidy on new installs.
 

curlietailz

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sedgefield
seems very wrong to me, read that plans to build a very large solar farm covering a couple of thousands of acres north suffolk ,cambridgeshire area, what do others think ? i can see the point of covering large roofs such as warehouses or any roofs, i think that all this large scale new house building thats going on or will be built in the future should have to have solar panels built from new as law, but not surely on good arable land that we are loosing to development and have not much at all ?

Says in the FW/press that it’s Grade 3 land
That’s hardly the most fertile and productive Grade
 
On average, you would expect to place about 250KWp per acre, which should generate about 250,000 KWh (units) per year. Rhis should give an income around £15,000.
Of course first thing they pay is rates
There is no subsidy on new installs.

Yes actually you’re correct upon checking £15,200 per acre per year in subsidy and £10,000 in elec sales. So £625k/acre over 25 years.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Yes actually you’re correct upon checking £15,200 per acre per year in subsidy and £10,000 in elec sales. So £625k/acre over 25 years.
No subs on new builds though is there, guess the early ones had a very nice sub and rent to boot, one wonders how the powers that be will wrangle out of that!!
 
With a 6 year payback they won’t be bothered as there all paid and sorted by now.

whilst the figures look good, as we both know, getting planning for SF’s is not for the faint hearted. The initial costs are frightening, and in reality it’s 2+ years from signing HOT with a landowner before they really know if it’s a goer or not.

deep pockets or big gonads are needed for farmers to DIY this themselves. Unless you have a lot of knowledge and both of the above it’s best to let others do it and take the rent, hardly a shabby amount when compared to the opportunity cost of the land, in most cases.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
With a 6 year payback they won’t be bothered as there all paid and sorted by now.
The way these things work, the only people who have got their money , will be the original developer. They will then have sold the farm on to a pension fund, or some such, who will have paid a phenomenal sum in the expectation of a 20-25 rock solid return.
If the government do chop the subs it will be future pensioners who take the hit .
 

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

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