UK: Double tax breaks for farms choosing renewables until 2020
Following last week’s surprise announcement from George Osborne that the Government would be fixing the AIA at £200,000 for the duration of this Parliament, firms will be able to offset up to £40,000 this tax year alone.
Not only can businesses now benefit from immediate 100 per cent tax relief on any capital expenditure worth up to £200,000 each year, but by investing in renewables they can also benefit from the Feed-in Tariff (FiT), which pays a set rate for every unit of electricity generated, guaranteed for 20 years.
AIA case study:
East Anglian soft fruit farm Place UK has cut its energy bills by £30,000 a year and reduced its carbon footprint by almost 100 tonnes thanks to a new 200 kWp ground mount solar array, using its AIA.
The £19m company, which supplies 3,500 tonnes a year of fresh and frozen raspberries, strawberries and blackberries to the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, invested in the 800-panel system at its 900-acre farm this summer.
Having doubled in size since 2009, the company consumed 3 million kWh of electricity each year. After a series of recent price rises, its energy costs had increased significantly, so the second-generation owners contacted EvoEnergy looking to add to the 80 kWp of rooftop solar PV already had on site.
Since the new 200 kWp system went live it’s been generating 20 per cent more energy than forecast, cutting the firm’s electricity bills by 10 per cent and reducing its CO2 emissions by an anticipated 93 tonnes per year. Place UK now has 280 kWp of solar generation on site, generating an estimated £30,000 per year in returns from the FiT.
For more information:
Jordan Mawbey
EvoEnergy
Tel: +44 0115 9575458
Email: jordan.mawbey@evoenergy.co.uk.