Utilising renewable energy on farms can help improve the financial and environmental sustainability of farm businesses. FWAG SouthWest provides a range of services to enhance and develop renewable energy on your farm.

We can help identify the natural resources which exist and advise on how they can be managed. Our independent and objective assessments can be used as supporting information for planning applications, public consultations or as a management guide for your site.

 

Site Mitigation Plans

The planning process is designed to identify the environmental features present and prevent the loss of these features. For large scale field solar and wind developments there is often a requirement to demonstrate on going agricultural management and environmental measures to enhance the biodiversity of the site.

FWAG SouthWests unique combination of agricultural and environmental knowledge enables us to offer mitigation plans which are workable within your farming system and offer real environmental benefits.

As part of this service our adviser will:

• Visit the site to discuss the current management and survey the condition of existing features.
• Using the survey information collected as part of the planning application we can identify the priority habitats and species on the site.
• Produce a practical management plan that considers the farming system and features of the site.
• Provide an independent assessment of the potential environmental gains.
• Provide you with resources to support the planning process, public consultations and ongoing management of the site.

 

Woodfuel Audits

Utilise an untapped resource on your farm: Harvest woodfuel for biomass energy.
The Unmanaged woodlands and extensive hedgerow networks found on many farms could be sustainably harvested and used as biomass fuel to save landowners money on heating. Our expertise can help you identify the amount of fuel available on your land and ensure that it is harvested carefully to the benefit of your wildlife habitats.

FWAG South West has been working with partners from Devon Hedge Group and the Tamar Valley AONB to produce a woodfuel audit method.

The audit method can calculate the value of the sustainable woodfuel harvest present and is currently performing well in trials on west country farms. We hope to offer the survey and audit as a service in the near future, for more details contact us.