Farming Diversification With Pollock Associates

The second gold rush of renewable energy is coming. Now is the time to act if you want to be part of it. Pollock Associates have been advising farmers and landowners since 2007 on renewable energy with Josh Pollock working on property and energy related matters since 1996.

With 1,000’s of MW of potential projects and 100’s of operating renewable energy schemes we are busy primarily with wind and solar in England and Wales.

Large Scale Projects

Wind and solar along with battery schemes, either as a stand-alone or as part of a wind/solar project, are still attracting developers, but they all require large scale schemes (30MW +) to make the projects pay in the nonsubsidy market. Gas peaking plants are also in demand by specialist parties.

Promotion of your site to a range of experienced developers helps to ensure your project stands the best chance of success but, for solar schemes, an available grid connection, at an affordable price is the first step. We can help you find a suitable development party to go with before signing the Letter of Authority for a solar project.

Alternatively, if you are minded to take some of the risk yourself then Josh says, “adding value by securing the grid offer, obtaining planning permission and having a development vehicle ready to go will improve your return”. Pollock Associates are experts in developing renewable energy projects and have recently sold, prior to construction, what may be the 1st solar site to be conceived, developed and funded at grid parity.

This scheme was done as a joint venture between the landowners and Pollock Associates, securing both the grid connection and the planning permission before marketing the project.

For wind, the grid connection element is not as critical in the initial stages as it is for solar. Andrew Sprawson comments that “large windy areas of Wales are still attracting attention from developers and it is essential to get good advice at the early stages of these long-term projects. For the first time since subsidies were cut and the planning regime was made that much harder, we have started to see interest in onshore wind in England as “clean energy” has become a regular topic in the news over the last year or so”.

What’s Hot

Large scale solar – 80-200ac Wind in Wales and Scotland – potentially in England?

What’s Warm

Battery storage is coming back as both stand-alone schemes and as additional options to other renewable energy generation projects, particularly solar.

What’s Cold

There hasn’t been much activity on Anaerobic Digestion schemes for a while.

Other Matters

In addition to the above is the “secondary” market, Pension Funds are very keen to acquire the rental streams from renewable energy projects, looking at really quite low yields. We are also seeing an increase in the site owners approaching the landowners to extend leases and planning permissions thereby increasing the life span of the project. These discussions can prove lucrative for the landowners and we can help with these negotiations.

Josh and Andrew are Directors at Pollock Associates, independent renewable energy and property consultants. Web: www.pollock-associates.co.uk; Email: info@pollock-associates.co.uk; Tel: 01476 530 000; Address: Home Farm, Cringle Lane, Stoke Rochford, Grantham Lincs NG33 5EF.