Renewables tips for farmers during Turriff Show expert session
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DURING a round-table event at the Turriff Show, farmers came face to face with industry experts to help make renewables work for them.
Based at the NFUS marquee on Monday, July 31, the discussion went in-depth about battery storage, wind energy, solar power, grid access and the economics – and politics – of renewables.
Chaired by NFUS renewables coordinator Mike Davis, the panel included energy minister Gillian Martin MSP, director of Muirden Energy Alex Fowlie, Alba Heat and Power's Wayne Campbell, wind turbine expert Dr Colin Anderson and Melanie Bryce from SSEN.
During her keynote speech, Ms Martin MSP said improving farmers' access to the grid so they can benefit more from producing renewable energy was vital.
"One of the questions I was asked earlier was: 'We are generating all this electricity in Scotland. Why are we not seeing the benefits?'," Ms Martin said.
"NFUS and the Scottish Government are saying a lot of the same things about energy, for example on access to the grid.
"Rural Scotland will be hosting the infrastructure that's actually going to power these islands, so they need to see the benefit of it.
"If you're in a position where you have available where you want to actually be producing clean energy yourself, you need to be incentivized to do that."
She also blamed tricky grid access, in part, on what she described as Westminster's linking of electricity prices to natural gas prices.
Muirden's Mr Fowlie summed up his firm's experience in major wind developments, with over 69 on-shore wind developments.
However, he said: "We are still actively developing, but onshore wind has got a hell of a lot tougher.
"The economics of it are a lot more marginal than it was.
"It's much bigger sites we are going for.
"Building a turbine today to get electricity for 7.5 pence per unit doesn't stack up in 1s and 2s."
Despite the disappointing economics, he added, smaller wind projects can be valuable if they replace power which would otherwise be purchased from the grid.
"What makes all the difference is if you are producing the power you're consuming yourself," he said.
Mr Campbell promoted the benefits of large-scale battery storage, which he claimed were "the answer" to restrictive grid infrastructure losing pace with renewable energy production.
"Many of you here will have had solar system and wind installed, and that will have saved you some money and perhaps a small revenue too," he said.
"It may pay when the sun shines, but what happens when it doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow?
"Good battery storage is the answer."
He added that economies of scale also apply with battery storage and that significant savings can be made with larger outlays.
In response to concerns over current battery technology becoming obsolete, Mr Campbell said he expects current batteries to be viable for at least five years.
Beginning with a history of the north east's links to wind power, Dr Anderson detailed how Maitland Mackie, of Mackie's, installed the UKs first grid-connected turbine around 40 years ago.
"The north east leads the country in wind energy in more ways than one," he said.
Agreeing with Mr Fowlie, he added: "The value of electricity is much greater if you displace your own, rather than if you sell to the grid.
"And mixing solar and wind is a very good way of boosting the amount of generation you can get into a certain grid capacity."
Later, he also said that overbuilding turbines or other producing infrastructure was a more cost effective way of managing grid limitations than building batteries.
"I think it's actually cheaper to overbuild renewables and constrain them, than it is to build storage," he said.
"You can do calculations on this.
"If you double wind capacity but then you have to clip it when you when you reach saturation, that is cheaper to do than to install batteries.
"I do apologize for that comment, but if you look at the economics at the moment, having overcapacity of generation is a cheaper way of achieving balancing.
"You will still need battery storage.
"But if you want to minimise that expensive storage, overinstalling renewables is a cheaper way to do it."
Ms Bryce, from SSEN, began by emphasising her firm's commitment to reaching net zero by 2045.
She also encouraged farmers to "Look Up Look Out" for overhead lines while operating machinery, and encouraged them to warn visiting contractors.
Identifying flexibility as a key to future development, she said SSEN was "looking at different ways of making payment to people" who contribute to the grid.
She announced that new Connections Workshops were also in the works with NFUS, so farmers can hear first-hand from the electricity network operator how best to access the grid.
Sessions will be bookable online from October 4.
