This case study examines how Colin, a second-generation farmer in Cumbria, successfully transformed his traditional 100-acre livestock farm into a sustainable, energy-efficient operation through strategic renewable energy.
His two-phase approach to renewable energy first involved partnering with a company to install a 20 metre wind turbine using a low-risk rental model, which generates approx. £10,000 each year. The second phase was to invest in solar panels and battery storage, which returns around £800 in annual grid feedback payments plus daily energy savings.
Colin’s experience shows how renewable energy can provide farmers with a reliable additional income stream while contributing to sustainability goals.
Read on to uncover how the sun and wind have helped his farm make more money.
Farm Background and Challenges
Colin’s parents initially purchased the farm in 1954 as a small holding of 100 acres. It is now run by him and his brother as a livestock farm with 50 beef cattle and 100 ewes, which are used primarily for producing lambs for consumption.
As with many farmers who own small holdings, the money generated from farming alone is not enough to sustain a comfortable life for them and their family. As a result, Colin also has to work as an electrical engineer at the local power station near Cumbria.
After working 12-hour night shifts at the power station, he has to find time to sleep and then get up to work a shift on the farm.
This is a common theme, as he knows several other farmers in the area who had to find additional jobs to supplement their income to survive.
Who says farmers are rich and have an easy life? It’s not a job we would want, and that’s why we think farmers are unsung heroes.
Energy Considerations, Planning and Earnings
When Colin first considered reducing his energy overheads, he considered several green energies, such as solar panels, wind turbines, heat exchangers, and ground-source heat pumps.
The most logical ones for his needs were solar panels and wind turbines.
Given the location of his farm, he first explored the benefits of wind turbines and went about gaining planning permission for a small turbine.
During this process, he discovered a renewable energy company that could supply a larger (20m high) wind turbine to produce more energy. Not only that, but they would also take care of arranging the new planning permission, installation, power connections, and feed back to the grid.
He effectively rents the turbine from the company, so all maintenance is taken care of, too. Colin pays approximately £6,000 per annum for the rent, but gets back 5p for every kilowatt produced, meaning he earns about £10,000 per year.
When asked about the risks of getting a wind turbine, he told us, “When I found a company who would take care of everything and I would get paid for effectively renting a bit of air space on my farm, there was no risk.”
Funding Solar Panels and Batteries
After seeing the benefits of the wind turbine, Colin wanted to push ahead with installing solar panels and a battery.
He arranged funding of £7,800 through Evangate FS to buy the panels and a battery. The battery is especially helpful during lambing season as it powers the lighting in his sheds. This means that when lambs are being delivered at night, the electricity is effectively free.
In addition to providing free electricity to his farm, he receives money back from British Gas (who his electricity supply is with). Currently, he gets 15.1p per kilowatt fed back into the grid, which results in him getting a cheque for £200 every three months.
The £800 per year money back, plus his free electricity, means his investment will be paid back quickly.
When asked about the risks involved in financing solar renewables, he told us it was really only the upfront purchase of the panels and battery. As the battery comes with a 10-year guarantee, and the panels only need cleaned once a year – in his mind, it was minimum risk.
This extra income helps buffer against fluctuating livestock sale prices and reduced agricultural subsidies.
Future Investment
He has space to accommodate 40 panels, but at the moment, only 20 panels are installed—why, you might ask?
When the installation company performed a survey, they discovered that the local grid couldn’t handle any more energy being fed back into it at the moment. In our view, if the Government is serious about its net-zero targets, it needs to fix these sorts of issues so that more people will invest in green, renewable energy.
When the local grid can handle it, Colin will invest in more panels!
More Farmers Are Turning To Renewable Energy
Colin is not the only farmer who has adopted renewables on his farm.
With soaring energy costs, ambitious (possibly unachievable) net-zero targets, and the post-Brexit reduction in farming subsidies, farmers face unprecedented challenges in making any profit and want to see how they can adopt sustainable farming.
Many UK farms are energy-intensive businesses, requiring lots of power for everything from dairy operations and grain drying to cold storage and heated greenhouses. With electricity costs having doubled or tripled in recent years, farmers find these increased costs unbearable.
We know of one Scottish farmer who produces milk for a major dairy. To improve the efficiency of the milking process, he has installed a robotic milking parlour, but to power this, he has had to cover his shed roofs with solar panels; otherwise, it would be unaffordable.
So, it is no wonder small farmers are looking at alternative ways of generating cash from alternative energy sources, or are diversifying their farm operations.
Green Farming Credentials
With more regulation pushing for “green credentials” and “farm carbon audits,” it’s expected that more UK farmers will invest in renewables such as wind turbines, ground-source heat pumps, etc.
Colin already has the coveted “Red Tractor” logo for his livestock produce, but he knows his investment in green energy will help him and the environment in the long term.
For livestock farmers such as Colin, Government equipment and technology funds have been available. Of course, these are matched funds, so the farmers still need to find the initial capital. This is where Evangate FS can help raise that upfront finance.
Using Finance Broker Services
Colin first found Evangate Financial Services in 2021 after doing a Google search. After completing the short form on our website to arrange financing for a used tractor (for £30,000), he has never gone anywhere else.
Whenever he needs to arrange finance, his first port of call is to contact Kyle Robertson. As Colin says himself, “Everything is so easy with Kyle. He takes care of the entire process and makes it so simple.”
Colin is like most Evangate FS customers in that he became a repeat customer. So much so that it was only last year that he contacted us again to arrange financing for a pickup truck.
Please get in touch with us today if you would like to arrange low-cost renewable finance (solar panels, backup batteries, wind turbines, etc.), a new or used tractor, or a pickup truck.
