funding news
03/05/2012 - North of England Gains from Feed-in Tariff Incentives
A green energy specialist is winning work by linking up investors with people with land suitable for wind turbines in what it says is a win-win situation for everyone.
North Energy Associates is benefiting from the interest being generated by feed-in tariff (FIT) payments from the Government for wind-produced energy exported to the National Grid.
A network of merchant wind companies – businesses with capital but no land to site a turbine – have sprung up to take advantage of the Government incentives.
North Energy, which is based in Stocksfield in Northumberland, is working with businesses keen to invest in turbines of all sizes.
Headquartered in a building heated by biomass, North Energy Associates was set up 1992 with two part-time staff. The consultancy now employs 11 people and also has a base in Yorkshire. In addition, the consultancy is helping businesses to reduce their energy consumption and therefore their bills.
Nicola Smith, planning director with North Energy Associates, said:
"The Government has bought into renewables. There has been a growing awareness in the last 10 years. There is a huge number of companies, often new ones, out there that want to make money from the feed-in tariffs. They will pay and there are two different ways. They pay someone else to do the research for them or they will find a site, screen it and they will enter into negotiations. We get a small finder's fee and we make it a condition that we get the work, so it's a way of bringing money into the company."
The work includes assessing a site's suitability and carrying out the planning application. The landowner, in return, receives a regular rental income and sometimes free or cut price electricity.
Click here to visit the Department of Energy & Climate Change website for further information about FITs (opens in new window).
Source: nebusiness.co.uk, 02/05/2012
