Agricultural businesses are being urged to attend a free seminar to learn how solar power can transform their operations and cut their fuel bills.
As part of the seminar, delegates will have a 'walk-through' of an impressive ground-mounted installation of 340 solar panels to see for themselves how cost-effective this type of 'green energy' can be.
Beverley-based Discover Energy is staging the free breakfast seminar which will highlight the financial viability of solar panels and, more importantly, illustrate how they can deliver a 25% return on the investment.
Martin Bleasby, from Discover Energy, said: “The seminar is a great opportunity for an agricultural business to learn more about what we do and how we can help reduce their fuel bills as well as understanding how to increase the profitability of an existing Solar PV installation.
“We will also be providing an update on Grid connection issues that have been imposed in our area and what this means to the local farming industry. If you have not yet become aware of such issues then we strongly advise you to attend this seminar!”
He added that with a combination of a Government incentive scheme, electricity savings and payments for electricity supplied to the National Grid, attendees will see how the predicted savings can be achieved and that Solar PV is still a viable investment.
But farmers will lose their right to claim subsidies for fields filled with solar panels under new plans to ensure more agricultural land is dedicated to growing crops and food, the government has announced.
The government said it would help rural communities who do not want their countryside blighted by solar farms.
The change, which will come into effect from January 2015, will mean that farmers who choose to use fields for solar panels will not be eligible for any farm subsidy payments available through the Common Agricultural Policy for that land.
Environment Secretary, Elizabeth Truss said: "English farmland is some of the best in the world and I want to see it dedicated to growing quality food and crops. I do not want to see its productive potential wasted and its appearance blighted by solar farms. Farming is what our farms are for and it is what keeps our landscape beautiful.
"I am committed to food production in this country and it makes my heart sink to see row upon row of solar panels where once there was a field of wheat or grassland for livestock to graze.That is why I am scrapping farming subsidies for solar fields. Solar panels are best placed on the 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial rooftops where they will not compromise the success of our agricultural industry."
The subsidy change will also save up to £2 million of taxpayers’ money each year that won’t be available for these subsidies. The reform follows other government measures designed to end support for solar farms in agricultural fields. The Department for Energy and Climate Change recently announced that renewable energy subsidies for new large-scale solar farms will end next April. This year, the Department for Communities and Local Government amended planning rules to ensure that whenever possible solar installations are not put in fields that could be used for farming.
The changes the government is making are expected to slow down the growth of solar farms in the countryside in England.
There are currently 250 installed, with the biggest covering as much as 100 hectares.
Under previous plans, the number of fields dedicated to solar farms was set to increase rapidly, with over 1,000 ground-based solar farms expected by the end of the decade across the UK. These changes should help to halt this expansion as it will now become less financially attractive for farmers to install the solar panels.
