Isramart : Industry Eye: Drive to cut carbon emissions could bring stack of problems for British landowners

Isramart news:
The UK is now legally committed to bringing down carbon emissions to 34 per cent below their 1990 level by 2020 by using three five-year-long budget periods where the reductions can be monitored.
Two weeks ago the Climate Change Committee, the official climate change watchdog, warned that a “step change” was needed in the pace of UK emissions reductions if we are to stick to these tough carbon budgets.

Its report indicated that annual cuts must increase by at least four times, from the recent rate of 0.5 per cent to two to three per cent. It stated the UK should slash emissions from the power sector by 50 per cent by 2020 by, inter alia, building 8,000 new wind turbines and effect an urgent overhaul of the national grid to accommodate new wind farms.

This emphasis on renewables means there will continue to be lucrative opportunities for landowners considering the option of diversifying into wind farm projects on their own or in partnership with a developer.

However, to be able to do so on a commercial basis will depend upon some key practical issues. Any site needs a suitable flow of wind consistent throughout the year but also needs to be one to be likely to gain planning permission.

The main planning criteria for wind farm developments are conservation, proximity of roads and houses, disturbance to air traffic and construction of new transmission lines.

Landowners are sensitive to conservation issues and will have followed closely the debate on the effect of wind turbines on bird and bat populations.

As a landowner you will know that in March the RSPB published a report notable for its open support for a managed increase in wind farms, in appropriate locations, and its recognition of a need to deploy renewables to combat climate change. However you will also be aware that a recent RSPB study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology in September, suggests that numbers of several breeding birds of high conservation concern are reduced close to wind turbines and the findings showed they should not be sited near vulnerable bird populations.

Issues such as this, and conservation generally, will be a major concern if you are considering your own scheme or partnering with a developer.

If the latter the developer’s first step may be to request you enter into an exclusivity agreement giving it an exclusive right for a period of one or two years to carry out initial tests and inquiries.

You will need specialist independent advice to cover every relevant issue – seeking to manage this process and the documentation without this advice is a non-starter. Any developer will have a range of advisers whose role is to secure the best possible deal for the developer.