Barclays to grant £100m to UK farmers towards renewable energy projects

With Barclays bank offering up to £100m to help farmers install renewable energy projects, the bank has reported that more than a third has registered interest.

The initiative, launched by the bank’s business arm on Tuesday, aims to generate returns of up to £25,000 annually for Britain’s farmers. The projects will include the installation of solar panels, wind farms, hydro plants and organic waste power, with agricultural businesses also set to gain through the implementation of government supported tariffs.

"We want to signal very clearly to the market that we consider this to be a big future industry, a big opportunity for agricultural businesses and also a big opportunity for the renewables," Barclays bank business product and marketing director, Travers Clarke-Walker told the Guardian. Farmers would then be able to recover the costs of installing such projects within a ten year period, Clarke-Walker adds.

The first £100m earmarked for the project will enable up to 100 farmers to take advantage of the scheme, with average costs varying from £250,000 to £700,000 to install necessary infrastructure. However, further funding could be made available through the fund’s unlimited loan budget. Last month Suffolk farmer Mike Porter was granted a £130,000 loan by Barclays to install solar panels on his grain store. The farmer expects to gain £20,000 a year supplying power to the National Grid.

It is expected that up to 90 percent of the proposed projects would be made up of solar and wind farm projects, as farmers seek to take advantage of its cheap installation and faster return on investment as if expected demand continues to rise.

By 2020 the UK is aiming to generate at least 15 percent of its energy through renewable resources.