Opposite farm sales offer renewable energy income

The planned launch of a well-equipped former dairy farm with two solar panels is expected to attract significant interest from commercial farmers and investment buyers.

Cleave Farm, near Bideford, Devon, has versatile arable and pasture land as well as renewable energy production and is said to deliver a strong return on investment.

Selling agent David Hebditch, a partner at Carter Jonas, says the sale was made in eight ways, with a guide price of £5.7 million for the entire sale.

“The business is centered around the former dairy complex, which services a herd of approximately 500 cows and includes a well-presented, detached, four-bedroom period farmhouse and a wide range of farm buildings,” he says.

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Cleave Farm

“There are two solar farms to the north of the farm, both of which allow for secure deals that provide solid investment income.”

Cleave Farm has approximately 261 acres of land, of which approximately 78 acres are solar energy-related.

Arable and pasture land with well-drained, fine, loamy soil is located at an altitude of 80-100 m above sea level.

Some of the lands are sold subject to an excess clause with the condition of taking back 50 percent for up to 25 years if the area where the conditions are valid is rezoned.

Extensive buildings

There is a wide range of modern dairy, livestock and storage buildings, as well as a traditional brick, stone and cobblestone barn.

The single-story barn, which was previously used as a farm office and dairy, also has three attached garages.

The farmhouse is surrounded by traditional barns with potential for alternative uses.

There is a three-bedroom cottage on the edge of the main holding.

A site hosting a third-party 50kW wind turbine has been leased for a period of 21 years since March 2014; This lease is outside the scope of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

David says the starting rent is £5,000 per annum plus 20% of Feed-in Tariffs (Compliance) for over 160MWh per annum of energy produced by the turbine.

The rent is reviewed upwards annually in line with the retail price index (RPI) and is currently £7,515.68 per year.

The lease for a 4.6 MW solar park offers a secure renewable energy income stream from an RPI-indexed “upstream only” rent.

The scheme itself delivers around 105MWh of electricity to the grid and provides a guaranteed base rent of £29,088 for 2024, indexed to around £44,000.

The lease was initiated in 2013 for a term of 25.5 years, with the developer given the option to extend the lease for a further five years, potentially providing the buyer with approximately 20 years of income.

A second solar park, set on 54 acres, generates additional income of £60,321 a year.

Black Rock Farm

Another farm capable of generating profits from renewable resources is being established in Wales; this time a large-scale poultry unit offering broiler production on a nine-acre site near Wrexham.

Built on green land seven years ago, Black Rock Farm is located less than a mile from Maelor Foods, where its birds are processed and also its feed and chick supplier; Carbon poultry farms in the country.

Sales agent Roger Parry & Partners says another contract is in place with Maelor Foods.

The farm has two commercial broiler buildings and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control consent with planning approval for 82,000 birds on 4,120 square meters of rearing space.

Six Mitsubishi CRHV 600 ground source heat pumps installed in 2019 provide Renewable Heat Incentive payments of around £4,000 per year, with payments continuing until March 2041.

One of the sheds has a 49.84kW photovoltaic array mounted on the roof, which was installed in 2019 and Fits payments were approximately 4.03p/kW. These payments are set to continue until March 2039.

The infrastructure is built on an area of ​​1.5 acres, leaving additional land with potential for expansion depending on planning.

A static caravan currently on the site is included in the sale, but its retention will be subject to the granting of planning permission.

Offers in excess of £2.25 million are expected for Black Rock Farm.