The Farm Energy Project

The Farm Energy Project is a farmer-led think tank that aims to unlock the potential of farms to generate energy, cut carbon emissions and help create a sustainable rural economy.

Through its Farm Wind project, the organisation has set out to develop a simple business model for farmers who want to diversify into renewable energy production.

"There are around 300,000 farms in the UK and we know that farmers are very open to new ways of using their land and other assets to generate income," explains Alex Templeton, Director of the Farm Energy Project. "Farm Wind will make it simple for any farm to become a renewable energy power station. In the long term, we believe farms have the potential to generate around 10 per cent of the UK's energy needs."

Designing a new business model

Up until now, farmers interested in diversifying into wind energy have faced an unappealing combination of a high upfront investment in wind turbine technology and a slow financial return. The business model being developed by Farm Wind will address these issues and make wind energy production an economically viable option for farmers.

"The work we're doing will provide farmers with good business reasons to get involved in renewable energy production, along with a simple package of support to get them started," says Alex. "The package will cover areas such as installing the wind turbine, arranging the finance, navigating the legal issues and securing planning permissions."

Setting up a pilot project

The Farm Wind team is setting up a demonstration project to test its business model, before finalising the contents of the support package and launching it in 2010. The team will also be exploring some of the additional benefits that renewable energy production can bring to rural areas, such as strengthening the rural economy, building links between rural and urban areas and increasing the resilience of rural communities.

Alex explains that Farm Wind has received good feedback from groups such as the National Farmers Union. "We've found that there's strong interest in the concept of farmers diversifying into energy production. As a small organisation, having the support of NESTA and the Department of Energy and Climate Change is invaluable when it comes to engaging such a large audience and trying to make a big impact."