15 replies to this topic

[Cornish Gems]

The government is reported as having changed the fit. However, it does not seem to have stopped opportunities to use a piece of land for a wind turbine or photovoltaic cells and be paid for doing so.

The downside for a wind turbine is the distance it has to be from the neighbours whereas the photovoltaic cells do not have the same restrictions, but they do take up a larger area of land.

What do others think about the idea and have any of you started the project?

[Romany]

Hi CGs
In the situation of many on the forum, I would suggest it is not a case of turbines versus solar panels. The ideal would be to have both. (And I am not suggesting a huge turbine the type of which have recently sprung up in a couple of fields hereabouts, I am only thinking domestic type ones - but not the stuff you can buy from B&Q!!!!!!!)

I didn't realise the govt had changed things yet again. I thought they had phased out or reduced the feed in tarriff and that that was supposed to take place in April but was put back to August due to a High Court ruling... any more up to date info would be welcome please (I don't have tv and cannot listen to radio!)

I am aiming to eventually have both. When I was living on my previous farm over 11 years ago long before they became accepted I wanted to do this, I contacted Solar Century etc but the costs then were prohibitive. It's a lot cheaper now!

Romany

[Romany]

PS rather than on the land, could you not have them on the roofs of the buildings? Hereabouts it seems a lot of people have taken advantage and some places have their entire roofspan covered including any outbuildings etc - in fact I saw a nursing home the other day which must have had in excess of 200 panels over two roofs!

Romany

[Cornish Gems]

Good idea but currently we do not have any buildings! Only a polytunnel!

The solar farm across the way was told that he could graze sheep among/under the panels. Why shouldn't one plant Christmas Trees among them - after all not every potential purchaser wants a big tree - especially as they get older. How about creating some kind of mobile hut for chickens to use along the gaps in between the rows of panels?

[Offgrid Tim]

It is found that larger wind turbines are getting harder to get through planning, so perhaps now is the time to focus on the size that is allowable through permitted development. However, unless you have a requirement for power, and have some way of phasing your energy usage with the generation periods, these wind turbines are hard to justify from a financial payback perspective. Do your own research..

Solar PV installations are still just about feasible for commercial operators to instal. The large multi Megawatt arrays will be of no interest to smallholders, but there is currently a window of opportunity to have around 250kW installed on your land, and to benefit from a rental and use of the power generated. This will take up just over an acre of land, and as CG mentions, could also provide a securely fenced area for grazing of sheep or fowl.

There are now permitted development rights for the installation of PV panels on existing roof elevations, subject to some easy criteria, also the installation of a modest amount on ground mounted solar.

Again, do your own research, get several quotes and don't always believe what you are told!!

We all want a better world, but some are too resistant to changes.

[shepie]

We looked at wind but that was a no due to the size needed and location to where we wanted to build our house , we are in negotiations with 1.25 acres of solar panels at the moment as you can indeed put sheep and chickens in there but although they are offering £500 + vat for solicitors fees our solicitor said it would need to be ten times that !!!! To sort a lease that protected us properly , so we are not Sure what to do at the moment .
Shepie

[Cornish Gems]

Does one have to use a solicitor? What kind of Lease?

[Offgrid Tim]

Hi,
I think Shepie could do well to ask CG their opinion of the value and cost of professional advice, as I have read elsewhere on the forum that they both have 'otherlife' experience of this. You might have a lot of common ground...
Have a good weekend! Hope it dries up for you soon!

[shepie]

was that supposed to be a answer Tim ?
you need to lease your land to the company for say 20 years and they can come in when they want and do works etc which is perfectly understandable and you have to keep it tidy ie. sheep grazing , keep hedges cut , dont do anything to block light , etc etc. The bit we dont like is, they what the say on the rest of your land use for any other renewables for 20 years not just the 1.25 acres of the site and thats a no for us .

[Cornish Gems]

• you need to lease your land to the company for say 20 years
• and they can come in when they want and do works etc which is perfectly understandable
• and you have to keep it tidy ie. sheep grazing
• keep hedges cut , dont do anything to block light , etc etc.

The bit we dont like is, they what the say on the rest of your land use for any other renewables for 20 years not just the 1.25 acres of the site and thats a no for us .

Having taken the liberty of changing the layout of your post Shepie, we now find it easier to make direct comments as shown below:-

• At our time of life this would not concern us, plus any rent receivable would presumably be transferable to new owners
• If the Tenant does not have direct access to the land, then he would have to notify the Landlord of his need so to have when the occasion arises.
• We are already doing our best to keep all of our land tidy, but the idea of having a deer fence around some of it (like our neighbour's solar area which has a 2m high deer fence around it)) surely would be appealing and beneficial when it comes to the idea of grazing sheep and poultry because of the protection it provides for lambs and chickens from foxes. And in a properly drawn-up Lease, it would surely not be your responsibility to maintain the fence in good order.
• Most of the hedges we see around here and there are already being cut twice a year, but we are aware that some are being allowed to continue growing, and so we suppose it would depend on what goes on in a particular area.

We find it hard to believe that a reputable supplier of solar panels would not allow you to also have a wind turbine but we all as Offgrid Tim says should do our own research. When we looked into having a wind turbine, we would have had to agree that we would not have anything to do with any other renewable energy provider for a couple of years, which we felt would have been reasonable. Furthermore, one does not have to sign any Lease with which one does not agree and usually one can negotiate any points one does not like and that is also what a decent solicitor should do on your behalf. Now that brings back memories of red and green pens!

Does your solicitor have experience of such Leases or would you be charged for the time spent in doing the necessary research? We only ask this because, generally speakiing, a solicitor with experience of such Leases already has to hand an acceptable draft Lease for such an agreement.

[shepie]

Hi CG

1 presume it can be transfered
2 they have the right to enter the land 24/7 without notice and put in a permenant track to the area
3yes
4 they have the right to lop off hedges to let in the light
5 you have to give them first refusal on any more renewables an ALL your land
6 etc etc
7 we will not be doing any of it .

[Cornish Gems]

Regarding 2 - we do know that Western Power would have been able to enter land at any time of day or night as that is part of that wayleave. As for a permanent track - can one not turn this to one's advantage? For instance, if the leased land is close to a barn?

As next door has already chopped down most of the boundary hedge, if someone wants to chop down the rest of it, it might make it look tidier.

We can appreciate the bit about first refusal, but we suspect it will just relate to ALL the land of that particular parcel so that should you at a later date purchase more land elsewhere that will not be included.

However, this is all speculation - without seeing a draft Lease, we cannot make accurate comments.

[Romany]

As next door has already chopped down most of the boundary hedge, if someone wants to chop down the rest of it, it might make it look tidier.

I thought it was now illegal to remove hedging without council permission?

We can appreciate the bit about first refusal, but we suspect it will just relate to ALL the land of that particular parcel so that should you at a later date purchase more land elsewhere that will not be included.

Shepie seems to be saying that the solar panel company want to tie ALL 8.5 acres not just the 1.25 acres. I too would be very reluctant to do this, after all they are paying rent on only 1.25 acres not the whole plot. Now if they offered an enhanced rent to cover the whole 8.5 acres, that might be more attractive, but then again, their right to enter the property 24/7 might extend to the whole plot and that would make me VERY uncomfortable

Romany

[Cornish Gems]

Chopping down a hedge down to just above the bank is not quite the same thing as removing it completely, or so we hope!.

We can understand why a solar panel company would not want you to willy-nilly let any other company use other areas on the land you own which is adjacent to the piece that they are 'renting' from you, without being allowed first refusal. In their position, we would provide you with a plan showing the area for which they would want first refusal should you ever wish to have more panels installed.

Again, we have seen many leases in our time, so must point out that the chances of them being allowed access 24/7 WITHOUT giving some kind of notice is all but unheard of. But, we can only go by personal experience and so without seeing the draft of the lease which is in question we really cannot go into detail. However, if such a draft did not mention any kind of notice, then we would have to insist on such a clause being included.

[Romany]

ah I'm with you, thanks for clarifying about the 'first refusal' bit, I missed the point Shepie made about that. That would be fair enough, but should not prevent you having your own personal supply (diy kind of set up) if you need it. That's my opinion anyway.

I would agree about the notice for access being written in stone though, but Shepie said the company he was dealing with wanted 24/7 access without notice ..

Romany

[Cornish Gems]

Upon reflection, at the end of the day, the solar panels are aiming to produce electricity. Now we are not experts about electricity but we feel that it might be an idea to allow immediate access in an emergency and only in an emergency. The kinds of emergency could perhaps be included in the Lease so that there might be some warning - for instance does lightening cause damage? How would they know there was an emergency?? Do they have some monitor? Other than that as said before 24/7 is the norm with perhaps 48 hours notice.

Now the question we have, is what happens if you are away at the time and do not receive the notice?