Hatchlands Farm
HATCHLANDS FARM
THE FACTS AND FIGURES
What : 203 roof-mounted solar PV array on farm building at Hatchlands, providing low-cost electricity to the farmer, with an excess exported to the grid.
Why we love it: Already generating electricity and investment-ready for immediate income. Great model for community investment in farm buildings. An ideal alternative to groundmounted arrays.
Total installed capacity: 49.9 kWp
Average annual generation: 50,229 kWh [FiT rate as of Nov 2011: 34.5p gen, 4.5p export]
Est. annual net income to TRESOC: £17,000
CO2 equivalent per year*: 24 tonnes
Customer equivalent per year**: 12 families’ typical use
Purchase price: £168,000 + transaction costs + VAT
Status: Commissioned in November 2011. Long term lease in place with landowner to 2036; 25 year FITs and lease. We have carried out due diligence on the performance of the system, and negotiated a price with the developer to give a return on investment of 9%.
View here the 2017 Performance Study of the Hatchland’s Solar Array [provided by Intern, Robert Weinhold].
Hatchlands Farm
Hatchlands Farm sits just off the Plymouth Road about 5 miles west of Totnes. TRESOC were involved in helping to develop this project with installers South West Solar Projects a few years ago. It is now installed as a 49.9kWp system which was offered to us at a negotiated price earlier this year, and would increase our overall capacity and returns.
There is a market within the area for profitable renewable energy generation via sub-50kw solar PV installations on existing agricultural buildings, although many of these opportunities have been pursued privately. Roof-mounted panels on large, stable roofs provide the ideal electricity generating scenario for community development or investment.
