On-farm Renewable Energy Production

There is an industry perception that on-farm renewable energy production is about to increase rapidly in Scotland, owing to a ‘feed-in tariff’ introduced in 2010, guaranteeing a purchase price for energy produced.The Scottish government has a target of generating 31% of its energy from renewable sources by 2011, and 80% by 2020. To date, 99% of the renewable energy produced in Scotland is wind energy (from turbines); 70% of wind energy installations are located on farms. However, these do not appear to be owned by farmers as only 177 (of 42 000) farmers identified on-farm renewable energy production in the 2010 census. In Scotland, we are looking specifically at the up-take of renewable energy through wind turbines, focusing our research in Aberdeenshire and Lanarkshire. We are interviewing industry stakeholders (companies providing equipment and services, banks, local and Scottish government representatives) and approximately 20 farmers who’ve put in planning permission for wind turbines on their land.

For more information on the on-farm renewable study in Aberdeenshire, please click here

Image: Turbine in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Courtesy of Lee-Ann Sutherland)