The UK-based bank Barclays has launched a £100 million fund ($163 million) to help farmers finance renewable energy projects on their land after a survey found growing interest among farm owners in installing such projects to offset energy costs and generate new income.
According to the survey, about 37 percent of the UK’s 200,000 farmers say they expect to invest in renewable energy technology — including solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric plants — with the expectation of ultimately receiving an annual return of £25,000 pounds.
According to the survey, most farmers want to make that investment in the next year. UK farmers “are looking forward to many further years of lower energy costs and a potentially new income as they sell energy back to the grid,” Travers Clarke-Walker, a product and marketing director for Barclays, said in the statement.
The British government, which hopes to achieve 15 percent of the nation’s energy from renewable energy sources by 2020, reduced financial incentives for large-scale solar projects last month over concerns that a handful of massive projects would consume funds intended to help smaller residential and commercial projects.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
