CLA member offer on our Stop/Go™ Study

This offer is now closed (30 November 2019)

Farms, estates and other rural landholdings with the right site attributes and where the local power network offers an appropriate grid connection, could have much to gain from renting sites to utility-scale solar, gas genset or battery storage developers.

At the time of writing, landowners can expect ground rents of around £800 per acre for sites of 40 to 200 acres for solar leases of 30 to 50 years. That’s up to £8 million in lifetime ground rent. Gas gensets can return up to £150,000 per year on less than two acres. Battery storage, which is seeing a recovery, can attract rents of over £50,000 per year on up to two acres.

As well as the need to act quickly to secure limited grid capacity, landowners must avoid many pitfalls to make the most of any viable opportunity. Amongst the things to avoid are:

• Signing with a developer before you secure grid connection rights. If a developer approaches you and you let them try to get a grid connection, you are far less likely to get anything. Very few developers have the expertise necessary to unlock complex connection opportunities and in any event, the network might not accept their technology. Other developers might have a technology and scale that perfectly fits your part of the network.

• Using an inexperienced consultant. Network Operators charge up to £8,000 for connection applications. Applications should only be submitted for sites with genuine potential and be drawn up by grid specialists that are prepared to work on a no-win-no-fee basis and cover application costs. They should also have the expertise to establish which specific technology at which precise scale will bring you success.

Our special offer for CLA members

The CLA shares Roadnight Taylor’s aims of helping landowners maximise the opportunities on their land. We want to make sure landowners protect the value of their assets and invest safely and sensibly in the right energy schemes.

That’s why we are offering all CLA members a £100 discount on our Stop/Go™ feasibility study. From £395 plus VAT, we’ll assess planning, grid and market factors to establish if members’ land has a genuine opportunity for a cost-effective grid connection and a viable energy scheme.

Find out more

The offer has now expired (as at November 2019).

For more details, please visit our landowner feasibility study page.