warksfarmer
Member
When it comes to effectively giving away 18ha which is what I was looking at and with all the risks then yes glass 3/4 empty actually.
I am staggered at the idea this is not a good deal
£1000 an acre inflation adjusted
At the end you want to keep the panels
They will still be producing and yours to sell to who you like or use
You can buy land at less than £800/ac over 25 years
Why on earth would someone pay that much to rent it ?
Bonkers maths in ths thread !
Purely because these solar companies build up a portfolio of solar arrays at 'X' pounds. To then sell them on. If the solar arrays are valued at 'X' amount and then they have to try to sell the land on top of that it may put the investors or potential buyers off.
I spoke to 3 different companies that were interested in our site and all of them freely admitted all they were doing was setting the arrays up and when they had hit the target figure of system, they then would sell it on because all they are doing is basically selling the FIT which is fixed as well as a long term lease on some secure ag farmland.
But where is the sense in them renting at MUCH more rent than they could service a loan on the land at ? Surely their business looks more attractive if it has a land asset base invested in as well as solar production ?
There must be a dam good reason they don't want to own the land because from a ££ point of you in makes no sense at all for them to rent
Another way to look at as a farmer is rent your entire farm at that price - use the rent to buy as much land agin and service the loan for 25years
You children will have a farm double the size in 25years and it won't have cost you a Penney !
In fact just doing some quick sums these rents are close to x3 the level you could buy at so in fact you could buy 3ac for every one rented !
Purely because these solar companies build up a portfolio of solar arrays at 'X' pounds. To then sell them on. If the solar arrays are valued at 'X' amount and then they have to try to sell the land on top of that it may put the investors or potential buyers off.
I spoke to 3 different companies that were interested in our site and all of them freely admitted all they were doing was setting the arrays up and when they had hit the target figure of system, they then would sell it on because all they are doing is basically selling the FIT which is fixed as well as a long term lease on some secure ag farmland.
And its only just feasible to buy at under £800/ac here. 45ac @ £12,000/ac (current local price being paid as of last week) via AMC is £32,500/year interest & loan repayment over 25 years = £720/acre.
I am of the opinion that some hear are beyond experienced to the point of becoming experts.
Honest John do I understand you right in that your 5 Meg is up and running?, did you do the wind as well?
Exfarmer as well is beyond slightly informed (do you go by the real name of Gary by any chance?)
My Real question to both of you and others is:- Why do most people think that after 25 or how ever many years all the large ground/Wind based
sights will be removed, why not set it up that after the set time period is up the Landowner or tenant owner of the land takes over the ownership of
the site/plant and receives all income from the generating and sale of the Solar/Wind production.
There is little evidence that performance of panels will drop drastically over 25 years
Most makers guaranttee 80% after 20 years but even that should be conservative
Though I will agree that the chance most makers will still be around to honour that, is unlikely!
The technology is solid state so there is little to go wrong.
The inverters will need replacing and that has to be factored in.
Ground rents. Have dropped purely as FIT and ROC rates have been slashed
Certainly 2 years ago people were paying £2,000 per acre, sadly that has gone
I do not do ground mount for various reasons nor do I sell panels
I too am concerned about good land being used for this purpose, but do not believe that it will amount to a fraction of the land being used for AD
Although AD will yield a more reliable supply of power the actual real yield of energy from a given area of course is far higher for PV
All
Yes and when you have one company looking to grow 14,000 acres of maize it must be a game changer.
2000 acres to grow for 1.5 meg AD. Is that correct ?
or 30 acres for 5 meg PV.
AD what is point of that from a Govenment Point of view ?