5th
July
2010
An Improved Financial Performance can FiT the Bill for Landowners
Leading renewable energy and environmental consultancy Atmos Consulting Ltd has made a fresh call to landowners to obtain planning permission for the installation of Feed-in Tariff (FiT) projects sooner rather than later to reap the maximum financial return. The Government backed FiT scheme is designed to financially reward small and medium producers of renewable energy.
However, Atmos has warned that without specialist advice, particularly with larger proposals where wind turbines can cause various negative landscape issues, some FiT projects may succumb to the many complex hurdles that can be faced in the early stages, resulting in a refusal for planning consent.
The FiT is one of a number of measures introduced in the UK to enable it to meet its international obligations in terms of carbon emissions. It provides income to users for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. Income is also provided for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated and sold to the grid through the Export tariff.
To overcome planning obstacles, the hiring of a specialist consultancy will support the landowner in landscape, noise, cultural heritage and ecology assessments. This is done by conducting a full feasibility study, which considers matters such as grid connection, site access, constraints planning and electromagnetic interference.
Philip Lewis, Principal Planner at Atmos Consulting, comments: "It is imperative that landowners seek out the advice of specialist consultants in order to enjoy the financial benefits the Feed-in Tariffs bring. Companies like Atmos are needed to help identify problems with proposals and provide ways around them to maximise prospects of gaining planning permission. Local circumstances can determine if any specialist supporting work is required for an application, and it's important that these issues are identified sooner rather than later."
Atmos' own in-house geographic information system also helps landowners identify constraints at potential sites that would be unacceptable or particularly high risk in planning. This service was used recently when Atmos completed heritage and planning statements in respect of a FiT wind turbine proposal in Dumfries and Galloway.
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