NFU Cymru has welcomed today’s announcement from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) that it plans to introduce a tiered system of charging for abstraction licence applications for hydropower schemes, this follows earlier proposals to increase all applications from £135 to £1500.
The announcement means that schemes with a capacity of 25kW or less will now be charged an application fee of £375; and fees will increase incrementally up to a maximum of £1500 for schemes with a capacity of more than 100kW.
NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs Board Chairman, Bernard Llewellyn, said, “It is the aspiration of many farmers in Wales to produce their own energy and there is growing interest in utilising the full range of renewable technologies available including hydro.
“During the consultation process we expressed deep concern that proposals would challenge the viability of many of the smaller farm scale hydro developments coming forward. Whilst the increases proposed cannot be described as insignificant, we are pleased, that NRW have opted to bring in a charging scheme that is more proportionate and reasonable for smaller scale projects accurately reflecting their scale and impact.
“It is hoped that this move will help farmers to develop hydro schemes on their farms, as these projects have the potential to be important income streams for farm businesses and also assist Welsh Government with the delivery of climate change policy goals, which seek to maximise renewable and low carbon energy at small and large scale across Wales.”
