By Philippa Orr and Hugo Remnant, utility and environment advisers at property consultancy Galbraith

CO-LOCATION, decentralisation and energy diversification could become key to some farmers' businesses.

The 'Green Industrial Revolution' is finally starting to take hold, and the UK is at the forefront as it has already cut carbon emissions by more than any similarly developed country. The UK’s green future is being generated through wind turbines, solar arrays, energy storage and electric vehicles, all of which are helping make strides towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Advances in renewable technologies coupled with the mandated drive towards cleaner fuel sources mean the country is starting to see more large scale renewable projects and more co-location – the combining of two or more renewable sources and/or energy storage on one site.

In terms of larger-scale renewable projects, co-location offers unique prospects for developers to boost the productivity of existing or proposed infrastructure, reduce construction costs and shorten the development timescale. Large areas of land are currently required; it takes three to five acres of land to generate one MW of energy, which is why large-scale renewable projects are often seen in rural and remote locations.

But smaller and local projects at a community scale could also become more common due to the decentralisation of energy, whereby energy is generated off the main grid and produced close to where it is used. This will allow a renewable future at community or farm scale, which was previously not possible due to costly grid connections.

Co-location, on a smaller level, will increasingly mean farmers could provide a public service whilst also helping to achieve net zero emissions within the same location. This is a huge opportunity for farms on urban fringes, as they could diversify into teashops or alternative office space for those ‘working from home’ whilst further providing electric car charging points. In the not-so-distant future, these diversifications will be run entirely on farm- or community- generated renewable energy.

The attraction of co-location is shown by well-known household utility companies’ plans to add solar panels to wind farms and, elsewhere, a super-battery to a Scottish wind farm. There have been talks about a new £800 million renewable energy park planned for Scotland, which would co-locate aerobic digestion plant with a green biodiesel production facility and other renewable technologies. The park is expected to generate between 150 and 200 MW of green energy whilst also providing around 1500 jobs.

However, as the concept proves itself, we expect to see famers and smaller landowners taking full advantage of the opportunities brought by co-location and thinking up some new ones.