Renewable energy systems – what you can do on your farm

EARLIER this year EU heads agreed on binding targets to increase the amount of renewable energy they use to 20 per cent by 2020. The announcement was met with a mixture of optimism and hesitation by the NFU.

The president, Peter Kendall, said that the target was ‘good news for farmers', given that it will ‘create more opportunities for growers to generate renewable energy on the farm'.

However, the UK government set itself a ‘tough target' of 10 per cent by 2010. Four years on from that commitment and less than 1.5 per cent of the UK's energy supply comes from renewable sources.

The fact is the targets have not created the incentives to advance the renewable energy sector in the way the government had hoped.

But there is potential – and not just in terms of biomass but with other renewables such as wind and solar power.

Tim Foster from Smartest Energy, one of the UK's leading independent energy trading operations, says the best option is to limit the amount of energy you use in the first place.

However, he believes that there ‘hasn't been a better time' to develop a self-generation project to supply you with the energy you do use.

Mr Foster cites climate change, a desire among many businesses to ‘go green' and the susceptibility of the energy market to world events as the principle reasons for this.

However, the other reason is that it would replace the need to buy in energy, the prices for which look set to increase in the coming years.

But there is a word of warning: these projects cost money and some have a long payback period.

IS IT WORTH IT?

“Before you spend any money, the economic viability of any project is worth looking at,” says Mr Foster. “There is a lot of free information out there so get some advice and play around with a few different scenarios. For instance, take a look at what a 10 per cent increase or decrease in energy price would make on the payback of your capital costs.

“And base your figures on cautious estimates, because we don't really know what is going to happen to energy prices in the future.”

Of course, there a number of other variables to consider, in particular the review of the ‘Renewables Obligation'.

The RO requires those who supply electricity to end consumers to provide a set portion of their electricity from eligible renewable sources. This portion will increase steadily to 10 per cent by 2010 and 15 per cent by 2015.

Suppliers meet the obligation by acquiring Renewable Obligation Certificates (Rocs) – they receive one for each megawatt hour of renewable energy generated – or by paying a buy-out price.

However, the government is currently consulting on whether to offer more Rocs for certain technologies to stimulate their development. Biomass, for instance, may be given two Rocs per megawatt hour, whereas a more mature technology such as onshore wind would remain at one Roc.

The key thing to ask yourself, says Mr Foster, is: ‘whether what you are planning to do is viable in today's economic environment. If it works today, then it should work going forward. That's providing they don't rip up the RO and start again.”

Should the project appear economically viable on paper, the next issue to consider is connecting to the grid; something that Mr Foster admits ‘is one of the most complicated processes to go through'. It is also where information begins to cost money. And after that there are planning obstacles to consider.

PLANNING AND OPPOSITION

The obvious barriers to renewable generation, such as wind turbines, come from the Ministry of Defence and whether the farm is located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. And while some local authorities are actively seeking to promote renewables, there has also been a certain amount of local opposition to wind projects in particular.

Pete Anderson, managing director at Eclectic Energy Ltd which designs and manufactures small-scale wind and water generators, says that, despite its potential, his industry can attract ‘bizarre and vehement' opposition.

“Many people have a Luddite attitude towards wind power and there is a great deal of misinformation disseminated about it.

“But the fact is, the generation of turbines that are being offered now are designed for the application, they are virtually silent in operation and vibration free.”

Despite being one of the more mature sources of renewable energy, wind power is still not reaching its potential. This is all the more frustrating for those in the industry given that ‘we have the best wind resource in Europe but our market is the least developed'.

Not all sites will be suitable. Keith Wheaton-Green, an environmental projects officer at South Somerset Council, advised farmers attending a recent Crop4Energy seminar to check the DTI's website for windspeeds.

“If it's five metres per second or above, then it's definitely worth looking into.”