French Farms - Years of going solar

It goes without saying that roof space is often not a problem for farmers, but only recently in the UK have so many looked to them to produce clean electricity.  The introduction of the UK’s Feed-in tariff in April this year has proved an opportunity to investigate the potential of roof space to yield another income – as French farmers have been doing for years. The Feed-in tariff was introduced in France in 2008, spurring demand for solar photovoltaics (PV) across the country not least on farm buildings. Solarcentury has worked with many French farmers to help them make the best of the incentives and new technology.

Mr and Mrs Jean-Noël Simard are poultry farmers from Burgundy in France, who installed 470 solar panels on their barns in April 2010. They’re adamant going solar was the right thing to do: “Our solar roof, an ‘Energy Roof’, is an excellent way of diversifying revenue streams for farmers like us. The feed-in tariff makes solar a sound investment with which we can protect ourselves against rising electricity prices while saving many tonnes of C02 emissions too. Solar PV is simply now the best way to upgrade your farm.”

The UK’s PV market is currently only 6MW, but according to a recent report by Price Waterhouse Coopers is now set to grow five fold in 2010 alone. Our neighbours over the channel saw a market growth of 46-185 MW of PV from 2008-2009, a 400% market growth also reflected in Germany with the Feed-in tariff.  Good news for the UK is that market growth has spurred considerable R&D in solar design, and the latest solar systems are not simply modules bolted onto the roof, but entire roof systems. Options are available that allow additions including the insertion of light shafts, smoke extractors, fireplaces, shrouds, gutter supports and even antitheft systems. Solarcentury have worked with many farmers on both renovation and new build projects, so the UK can now benefit from this experience.

Solar PV is proven a renewable technology with minimal planning or maintenance concerns that can make good use of existing farm buildings without impacting on agricultural land. French farmers provide numerous examples of successful solar projects. With the UK Feed-in tariff now providing an additional financial incentive, shouldn’t UK farmers be following suit?

Charlotte Webster works for Solarcentury, which designs, manufactures and installs solar technology across Europe.

• Stephen Frankel is a farmer in Cornwall who's got solar PV on his roof - read his blog about the benefits here.
• For more information of the UK FiTs for PV, you can read the an overview by Solarcentury here, or watch the videos ‘A short Introduction to Solar PV’ and ‘Feed-in tariffs for solar explained’.
• What do the papers say about going solar? Read the latest articles on solar PV and the Feed-in tariff on the Solarcentury website here.
• Click here to read Sam Usiskin's presentation on solar PV for farmers given at the 'Business case for renewable energy workshop' on 2nd December 2009