Chris Lount, an arable farmer from Leconfield near Beverley, East Yorkshire, will host other farmers looking to find out how they can cut costs and increase income by diversifying into green energy. The event is being backed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Hallmark Power and Endurance Wind Power.
At the open day on 7th May a range of experts will be on hand to cover logistics and siting of wind turbines, planning permission, financial aspects and everything you need to know to enhance revenue from generating sustainable electricity. As well as turbines, experts are knowledgeable on solar energy and anaerobic digestion.
Mr Lount farms 400 hectares of wheat, oilseed rape and spring beans. In 2012 he installed a 24m Endurance E-3120 wind turbine that generates 50kw of electricity, supplemented by solar panels on his farm buildings. The energy generated runs the farmhouse and other farm buildings.
Angela Wallace, Hallmark Power, said: “Chris Lount’s Endurance E-3120 is perfect for the agricultural sector. It is medium-sized, works well with the wind capacity of East Yorkshire, and is aesthetically suitable for a farm providing sustainable energy, reliably, safely and quietly.
“The turbine generates enough electricity to power a farm with relatively high energy consumption, with excess available to feed back into the grid. So it cuts energy costs as well as generating an income. In fact, Mr Lount only needs a small amount of the energy he generates, thereby stabilizing energy costs and providing a guaranteed annual source of renewable income.”
Feed-in Tariffs are fixed, so a farmer installing facilities on-farm will receive a guaranteed level of income for many years to come.
Chris Lount said: “At the time we decided to install a wind turbine crop prices were struggling and we wanted to do something to secure some income for the future. Basically we wanted to put our eggs in a couple of different baskets.
“We’ve also got solar panels on a shed. We use the electricity from both sources in the house and to power the workshop. The rest is sold back to the grid.
“Planning permission was fairly straightforward. One or two local people asked me about it in the village, but nobody had any real complaints. I’ve been delighted with the investment and Hallmark Power have been really helpful every step of the way.”
The event will take place between 10.00 and 14.00 at Springers Lodge in Leconfield.
For more information and to register for this event: www.rase.org.uk/events
