Communities, farms can create their renewables schemes

Scope for projects working alongside food production and for the benefit of local communities

Community-based renewable energy projects and a whole new wave of schemes located on farms could both contribute to the UK’s renewable energy profile.

First, the number of community owned renewable energy schemes in England could increase, thanks to a new £10mn fund administered by the Department of Energy & climate Change (DECC). The Urban Community Energy Fund will give community groups in England the opportunity to bid for grants of up to £20,000, or loans of up to £130,000 to help kick-start their projects.

 The community energy sector will also see its first major shake-up since the launch of the Community Energy Strategy in January last year. Projects will now get further support under the Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme to get their community energy projects off the ground. Changes include:

• registered charities will be entitled to the same benefits as other community groups;
• two community projects, each up to 5 MW in size, will now be able to share a single grid connection and receive separate FiTs; and
• the FiT will now be guaranteed for an extra six months.

Last October, ethical investment exchange company Ethex found that renewable energy projects are the most popular type of community investment, with £29mn raised for 56 projects since early 2012.

Second, UK farms could be a major player in a shift towards a resilient, low carbon energy system, according to a report from the Farm Power coalition, which is made up of farming bodies, businesses and NGOs. The research, carried out by Forum for the Future and Nottingham Trent University, found there is at least 10 GW of untapped resource across UK farms – equivalent to more than three times the installed capacity of the proposed new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C.

The 10 GW figure was calculated based on farm data, analysis of a Farmers Weekly survey and scenarios built up on the basis of some assumptions about how many projects farms in the UK could host. Data was also used to estimate the amount of land that could reasonably be used for installing solar panels, wind turbines and anaerobic digestion systems.

Deploying renewable energy installations to generate power can complement food production, increase jobs and economic growth for farmers and surrounding communities, and help biodiversity, land and water management and other ecosystem services, says the report. The findings evidence the coalition’s founding belief that UK farms and rural communities could become significant contributors to the energy system by 2020 if a number of removable obstacles are tackled. Chief among these are getting reliable access to grid connections and supportive planning.

Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, National Farmers' Union, said: ‘The NFU strongly endorses farm diversification into renewable energy, for export as well as for self-supply, where it supports profitable farming and underpins traditional agricultural production. We recognise that low carbon energy production can actually enhance our national food security for only a modest land take, and the additional returns from renewables make farm businesses more resilient and better able to manage volatility in both the weather and in farm prices.’