The UK is currently facing a severe energy crisis, with household energy bills spiking to £1,971 per year with the news of the latest price cap increase. With the Government looking to tackle these rising bills by shifting energy strategy towards renewables, Octopus, a British energy firm, has launched a new scheme to set up onshore wind farms. Through the ‘Plots for Kilowatts’ scheme, Octopus is looking to “to match-make willing landowners with enthusiastic communities who want to host a turbine.”
For landowners who register their interest, Octopus noted that there may be a minimum amount of approximately 10 acres of land needed for the development of a turbine.
They also added that no restrictions can be in place preventing the land’s use for electricity generation and the land must be at least 500m away from the nearest residential area.
This scheme comes on the back of their previous wind energy “Fan Club” tariff, which offered communities the opportunity to slash energy bills by up to 50 percent if they have a wind farm producing electricity nearby.
According to the energy firm, over 5,000 communities registered an interest in having their very own windfarm nearby.
This scheme will connect such communities with landowners who would be willing to rent out their land to build wind farms.
Octopus will then “overlay this with data on grid availability, wind speeds and environmental impact” which “will help identify at least 10 viable sites by the end of summer”.
The company will then submit these proposals to the Government, who has committed to generating 50 GW of wind power by 2030.
According to a statement by Octopus: “The UK’s top 30 landowners own over 1,500,000 acres of land and if just 1 percent of this land was rented for wind turbines, over 1,500 wind turbines could be built.
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“By being part of this, landowners have the opportunity to secure additional revenue streams through rent or a share of the project’s income, whilst giving back to their local community through discounted bills.”
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, comments: “It’s crystal clear we need more renewables, with wind playing a significant role.
“Launching ‘Plots for Kilowatts’ will accelerate this so we can build more onshore wind quickly and at scale.
“Our aim is to create a ‘dating agency’, using a new data-driven approach to match-make willing landowners who have land to develop with communities that want onshore wind.
“We’ve been blown away by the demand we’ve seen for local green energy with cheaper energy rates.
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“We’re now asking UK landowners to join us on our mission to dramatically accelerate people-led green energy.
“This will help unlock the UK’s significant renewable potential and speed up the transition to net zero and energy independence.”
