Make the most of agricultural land with solar power

Farmers and growers have the potential to earn millions of pounds from hosting solar PV schemes on their land. However, the development process is not straightforward, and it can be easy to miss out on opportunities, select the wrong partner or leave money on the table.

NFU Energy has partnered with specialist grid consultancy Roadnight Taylor to help farmers and growers maximise their chances of successfully developing schemes and their income potential.

NFU Energy’s Renewable Energy Solutions service is designed around three key success factors to help farmers and growers avoid the pitfalls:

• be proactive. If you wait to be approached by a developer, it’s likely they will also be approaching other landowners on the same part of the electricity network, who may end up competing with you for scarce capacity;
• use experts. Securing a viable grid connection offer is fundamental to developing a renewable energy scheme, and yet the industry average grid application success rate is only 15 per cent. By contrast, NFU Energy and Roadnight Taylor’s success rate is claimed to be around 85 per cent;
• retain control. Signing up with a developer too soon can lock you into an exclusive relationship.