Farm-scale green energy schemes to avoid cuts

A reduction in government support for large-scale onshore wind and solar schemes will affect relatively few farm and estate-scale developments, say advisers.
Most farm-scale projects are Feed-in-Tariffs-based schemes and smaller than the 5MW installations affected by a government announcement on Wednesday (4 December).
This reduces the prices at which large solar and onshore wind will be able to sell power between 2015-19 and raises the guaranteed price for offshore wind.
The changes are considered relatively minor compared with draft prices published earlier this year and will be made as part of a new national infrastructure plan and Electricity Market Reform (EMR) policy.
The guaranteed prices announced this week apply only to installations larger than 5MW and are known as Contracts for Difference (CfDs), which will replace Renewable Obligation Certificates in 2017.
While some renewable energy bodies have criticised the cuts, Strutt & Parker’s Alexander Creed said at a farm and estate level the announcement had given more certainty in terms of solar lets.
Although the announcement had come as a bit of a surprise, large-scale onshore and solar PV schemes would still be viable, said Christopher Smith, head of Knight Frank’s renewable energy team. “It does mean developers looking at their business plans very carefully. How this will be reflected in rents and equipment costs remains to be seen.”
This week’s announcement was not a bad news story, said NFU renewables adviser Jonathan Scurlock, who stressed the industry needed a consistent message from government on renewables.
The Renewable Energy Association (REA) said it was vital a wide range of businesses and technologies were effectively supported, especially independent generators.
“There is more work to be done to ensure EMR works for independent generators as well as the big utilities,” said Dr Nina Skorupska, REA’s chief executive. “Independent generators help drive competition and innovation, and can also help communities invest in their own local energy projects. The real reason support for solar and onshore wind will go down is that they are leading the race for cost-competitiveness with fossil fuels.”