| Energy
Energy storage comes of age for farmers
Energy storage is being rolled out in the renewable energy sector , meaning farmers can save money by storing energy for use at peak times , when it ’ s most expensive to purchase , as well as maximise profitability when selling power to the grid .
E nergy Storage is coming of age ,” said Nina Skorupska CBE , chief executive for the Renewable Energy Association ( REA ), speaking at The Energy Now expo in Telford , on February 8 and 9 .
“ Depending on the business model , investing in storage could be making farmers money in the next three to eight years ,” she added .
Peter Robinson , senior energy specialist , Carter Jonas , said that farmers only need one or two acres to have a commercial scale storage facility on-site . “ It doesn ’ t need to be on good quality land , it can be on a brownfield site or scrubland .”
Also speaking at the event was Ray Noble , senior advisor for solar and storage at the REA . He said that storage can not only save farmers money on their own energy use , but it also presents a lucrative opportunity for those exporting to the grid . “ All capacity can be put into battery storage and be sold to the grid at an appropriate time , at certain times of the day it can make up to six times more than other times .”
He explained that when ground mounted solar , on-shore wind and storage come together in two to three years-time , they will provide the lowest cost energy available . “ Ground mounted solar is the cheapest to install and when working in tandem with a storage facility , it could lead to selfsufficiency in terms of electricity . Solar will become even more important in the near future ,” added Ray .
“ The dash for cash is over ,” said Welsh hill farmer and renewable energy engineer from Westflight , Chris Brooks . “ Solar ’ s most viable if you have a large on-site consumption . We ’ re now adding in battery storage at the farm in order to cover the night time hours and even without subsidy , this will pay ,” he added .
Energy storage is a hot topic at the moment , but farmers still want to find out more , so much so that the dedicated storage sessions at the Energy Now Expo were so packed that the walls had to be taken down to let more people in .
Event director , David Jacobmeyer said he was very pleased with the turnout of the annual show , and that while many subsidies had been cut , the event welcomed a record high of 3246 visitors over the two days , highlighting that there ’ s still huge demand for renewables .
Energy storage was hugely popular with numerous farmers attending specially to hear about it . If you think about a solar scheme on a dairy farm , a lot of power is being produced while farmers aren ’ t using it , during the day when they might be working elsewhere in between milking sessions .
Nina Skorupska
“ If they can generate it during the day and use it when needed it ’ s going to solve a lot of problems for them ,” added David .
Energy storage was just one of many exciting topics of interest brought up at the event , conference sessions were put on for every different type of renewable energy . The impact of Brexit on the renewables sector as well as the continued development of the sector in a low or postsubsidy world where discussed in depth throughout the show .
40 | Farming Monthly | March 2017 www . farmingmonthly . co . uk