Solar farms without subs - what the appetite for it?

[Doing it for the kids]

I hear the demand is back on having been quiet for a few years.

What are people paying in rent (subject to grid, location etc etc) for a sensible sized site?

I have heard £6-800 per acre. How long do such deals no need to be to make it stack up, used to be 20 years, is that still the case?

The press seem to have all sorts of things to say about this.

 

[teslacoils]

They can have as much land as they want here for half that for 20 years. Saving on rent might go towards grid connection!

 

[henman]

They can have as much land as they want here for half that for 20 years. Saving on rent might go towards grid connection!

As somebody who has a solar park I would not do it for £400 acre
you would want the £600-£800 because of the demands they will make . they will want 25 -30 year lease
The solar parks built in the last 5 years are going back to planning wanting to extend the life span until they are no economical viable. Also you lose argi property relief

 

[Doing it for the kids]

As somebody who has a solar park I would not do it for £400 acre
you would want the £600-£800 because of the demands they will make . they will want 25 -30 year lease
The solar parks built in the last 5 years are going back to planning wanting to extend the life span until they are no economical viable. Also you lose argi property relief

Surely it depends on what the land is earning you - it’s opportunity cost?

What demands could they make or are you referring to during the build out?

Surely they only want to extend the life span to squeeze more out of the deal, or are you saying those built before are no longer earning their owners positive income?

 

[teslacoils]

I'm not bothered about the ag property relief. I'd do 25 years at £400 with a bit of inflation linking. Must be some heady demands if you want £600+ for it. £600 for 25 years buys the land at today's rates.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Supply and demand.

Rents were double that a few years back!

Limited grid, hard to get planning, plenty of variables with plenty of risk.

I wonder if ag land will be worth £15k per acre in 25 years!?

 

[D14]

£1000/acre with a connection point to the grid in the same field, £800/acre if there is no connection point in the same field so its got to cross other land. HOT's paid for by the company wanting the site. Lease premium upfront payment which equates to a years total rent. Rent paid quarterly in advance. Redrainage charge of the whole site index linked to the end of the lease - this money put into an escrow account.
Lease costs paid for by the company wanting the site. Write in that you will do the reinstatement of the site after construction and that they will pay you for it. You also want the grounds maintenance contract as well.
Its not worth any less than this when you factor in inheritance tax and tax on the rental income.

 

[flatliner]

£1000/acre with a connection point to the grid in the same field, £800/acre if there is no connection point in the same field so its got to cross other land. HOT's paid for by the company wanting the site. Lease premium upfront payment which equates to a years total rent. Rent paid quarterly in advance. Redrainage charge of the whole site index linked to the end of the lease - this money put into an escrow account.
Lease costs paid for by the company wanting the site. Write in that you will do the reinstatement of the site after construction and that they will pay you for it. You also want the grounds maintenance contract as well.
Its not worth any less than this when you factor in inheritance tax and tax on the rental income.

What does HOT's stand for?

 

[chaffcutter]

Heads of Terms, that is the basic agreement between the parties

 

[Landrover]

£800/acre linked to inflation there's 1300acres here they can have tomorrow !

 

[D14]

What does HOT's stand for?

Head of Terms. This will generally cost about £2000 to set up so if they want your site then make them pay. There is big money in solar farms even without the subsidy. One we are involved in is turning over £12,500/acre/yr without subsidy.

 

[Daniel Larn]

There is loads of interest from companies putting panels in, and if you have land that you're interested in letting then please get in touch.

The problem is that government haven't updated the actual energy companies on how the FIT will be managed in future.

The producers FIT ended in march, and the energy companies have been promised the new tariff will essentially go to them instead.

But brexit has meant that the energy companies have yet to recieve this advice.

Currently an installer can only get a 3-5year contract, which isn't long enough to warrant the investors putting the panels up.

 

[Exfarmer]

£1000/acre with a connection point to the grid in the same field, £800/acre if there is no connection point in the same field so its got to cross other land. HOT's paid for by the company wanting the site. Lease premium upfront payment which equates to a years total rent. Rent paid quarterly in advance. Redrainage charge of the whole site index linked to the end of the lease - this money put into an escrow account.
Lease costs paid for by the company wanting the site. Write in that you will do the reinstatement of the site after construction and that they will pay you for it. You also want the grounds maintenance contract as well.
Its not worth any less than this when you factor in inheritance tax and tax on the rental income.

The site will go on producing good amounts of electricity for far longer than 20 years, certainly 50 is not overoptimistic. Take it back when lease runs out , then either relet it or run it yourself which should be very veery profitable indeed.
1 ha should produce around 1,000,000 units a year, at 5p that is £50,000even if output has dropped to 90% that is still 45,000 a year income. Nice if you have 20 hectare even nicer if you have 100!
remember the price of product should rise with inflation

 

[Clive]

Interesting thread this -we have a couple of very suitable sites where I think planning would be straight forward

haven’t done anything about it though as thought economic didn’t stack up these days but the numbers posted above start to make sense if they reflect reality ???

no idea who I should talk to about this - any recommendations ?

 

[Bury the Trash]

Interesting thread this -we have a couple of very suitable sites where I think planning would be straight forward

haven’t done anything about it though as thought economic didn’t stack up these days but the numbers posted above start to make sense if they reflect reality ???

no idea who I should talk to about this - any recommendations ?

Enough Local grid capacity would need to be available, something to ascertain even before planning permision.

 

[kentishmack]

Interesting thread this -we have a couple of very suitable sites where I think planning would be straight forward

haven’t done anything about it though as thought economic didn’t stack up these days but the numbers posted above start to make sense if they reflect reality ???

no idea who I should talk to about this - any recommendations ?

Can put you or anyone in touch with the right people if interested. PM me.

As an aside, some talk that if you graze sheep under the panels that the ground may still qualify for tax relief.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

£1000/acre with a connection point to the grid in the same field, £800/acre if there is no connection point in the same field so its got to cross other land. HOT's paid for by the company wanting the site. Lease premium upfront payment which equates to a years total rent. Rent paid quarterly in advance. Redrainage charge of the whole site index linked to the end of the lease - this money put into an escrow account.
Lease costs paid for by the company wanting the site. Write in that you will do the reinstatement of the site after construction and that they will pay you for it. You also want the grounds maintenance contract as well.
Its not worth any less than this when you factor in inheritance tax and tax on the rental income.

TF does it again! I agree with everything, only question, what term length is required these days? Not 20+5 I hear?

There is loads of interest from companies putting panels in, and if you have land that you're interested in letting then please get in touch.

The problem is that government haven't updated the actual energy companies on how the FIT will be managed in future.

The producers FIT ended in march, and the energy companies have been promised the new tariff will essentially go to them instead.

But brexit has meant that the energy companies have yet to recieve this advice.

Currently an installer can only get a 3-5year contract, which isn't long enough to warrant the investors putting the panels up.

Daniel how many solar farms (50ac+) have your team been involved with?

Interesting thread this -we have a couple of very suitable sites where I think planning would be straight forward

haven’t done anything about it though as thought economic didn’t stack up these days but the numbers posted above start to make sense if they reflect reality ???

no idea who I should talk to about this - any recommendations ?

Grid first then planning, Gris will cost a few £k to get an enquiry in, its a v com0lex moving picture though...

Once you get that planning is next, given our current emergency situation now seems a good time. I’ve had estimates of 150k, most of that is just planning fee. Some of the new surveys they have come up with are curious to say the least! It’s a v expensive game but like you say, if doing it in house the rewards can be superb, I bet even you struggle to get £800/ac profit every year Farming ?

Can put you or anyone in touch with the right people if interested. PM me.

As an aside, some talk that if you graze sheep under the panels that the ground may still qualify for tax relief.

Agreed, it helps but I think they will ask what the principle use of the land is, when looking at the figures it’s hard to suggest sheep are the main use! If feeling really ballsy transfer land to company first but CGT bill can be eye watering!

 

[f0ster]

eden district planning refused some planning applications for solar farms but they were given the go ahead on appeal, the planners also had their wrist slapped, due to their blinkered approach on the subject.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

eden district planning refused some planning applications for solar farms but they were given the go ahead on appeal, the planners also had their wrist slapped, due to their blinkered approach on the subject.

What size? I think very few go through without a bit of a fight

 

[Daniel Larn]

TF does it again! I agree with everything, only question, what term length is required these days? Not 20+5 I hear?



Daniel how many solar farms (50ac+) have your team been involved with?


Grid first then planning, Gris will cost a few £k to get an enquiry in, its a v com0lex moving picture though...

Once you get that planning is next, given our current emergency situation now seems a good time. I’ve had estimates of 150k, most of that is just planning fee. Some of the new surveys they have come up with are curious to say the least! It’s a v expensive game but like you say, if doing it in house the rewards can be superb, I bet even you struggle to get £800/ac profit every year Farming [emoji1]


Agreed, it helps but I think they will ask what the principle use of the land is, when looking at the figures it’s hard to suggest sheep are the main use! If feeling really ballsy transfer land to company first but CGT bill can be eye watering!

The outfit I am working with haven't done field scale solar as yet, they mainly supply industrial consumption. However they have a sizeable fund in place which is invested into suitable large scale projects.

They have installed many systems at over 15MW, which if put out on a field would be 70-75ac.