AS THE conversation around climate change and the way we use and produce that energy takes shape, there are things farmers are willing and able to do to ensure that energy is green and renewable.

Farmers are particularly well placed to contribute towards the country's renewable energy production - from small to medium sized wind turbines in fields, hydro schemes, solar panels on farm buildings, to biomass systems. These also help the farm business reduce their own carbon footprint.

In 2017, the Welsh Government announced a target of meeting 70 percent of Wales’ electricity demand from Welsh renewable electricity sources by 2030. By 2018, 50 percent of the electricity consumed in Wales was generated from renewable energy sources, up from 19 percent in 2014 and 48 percent in 2017.

Notably, the introduction of Feed in Tariffs (FITs) in 2010 played a central role in more than doubling renewable energy production in Wales from 2014 to 2017 by posing as an incentive for farmers to invest in such production with minimum financial risk.

However, the abolition of FITs in 2019 has led to a significant slowdown in on-farm investment into renewable energy sources, consequently weakening the environmental benefits associated with private initiatives and diminishing the momentum of reaching Welsh Government’s 2030 target.

Furthermore, the Welsh Government’s business rates relief scheme, which provided more than £1 million to 52 privately owned hydropower projects in 2020, came to an end for those private schemes on 1 April 2021 - schemes for which a reassessment of rateable values in 2017 saw rates rise by nearly 1000 percent compared to a previous valuation in 2010 - significantly undermining the viability of such schemes and sending a negative message to those considering investing in renewable energy. Welsh solar photovoltaic capacity has only increased by less than 1 per cent from 2019, there were only five new hydro projects commissioned in 2019, and small private hydropower schemes are in a similar situation due to the withdrawal of business rate relief.

Whilst the FUW remains neutral in terms of the divisive issue of large-scale wind farms, the Union fully supports the development of appropriate on-farm renewable energy sources, and maintains that Welsh farms have a central role to play in reaching Welsh targets provided the correct support is available.

It is clear that the Welsh Government must seek alternative and innovative ways in which funding can be provided in order to develop on-farm energy production and identify those barriers to on-farm energy production which fall within the remit of Welsh Government.

Furthermore, we must seek to reduce bureaucratic burdens which add to the financial and time costs and prevent developments, and work with Ofgem and the UK Government to ensure the costs of connection to the National Grid by electricity companies are fair and proportionate.

Encouraging and facilitating the use of wood and other carbon-neutral sources of energy while ensuring food production is not compromised should also form part of that strategy, as well as the reintroduction of attractive renewable energy production schemes and Feed In Tariffs which incentivise farmers to invest in schemes that will restore the previous growth in private renewable energy production.

The Union has also been clear that private renewable energy schemes must be eligible for levels of business rate relief that genuinely support renewable energy production and there should be incentives for private renewable energy production by including it as part of the future agricultural support scheme.

Farmers have the solution to providing clean and renewable energy on their doorstep and are part of the solution to tackling climate change.

Glyn Roberts, FUW President