May 3, 2018 10.29 am This story is over 76 months old

Lincolnshire energy entrepreneurs generate £28m a year

Lincolnshire is in the top 10 for investment.
Photo: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Businesses, farmers, landowners and communities across Lincolnshire invested more than £62 million in commercial-scale renewable energy generation projects, new figures show.

The sixth annual Energy Entrepreneurs Report from SmartestEnergy found there are now 182 sites, including wind turbines, solar farms and hydro projects, outside of the traditional energy supply sector in the region.

This makes Lincolnshire the 8th largest based on the numbers of sites and the total invested in projects stands at £62.2 million.

With a combined capacity of 293 megawatts, the Lincolnshire projects generate £28.6 million worth of electricity a year and enough to power than 173,000 households.

Across the UK, the report shows more than £227 million was invested in 400 new independent renewable energy projects in 2017.

However, as renewable subsidies continue to fall away the pace of growth in the sector was the lowest seen since the report was launched in 2012.

With the Renewable Obligation Scheme closing to new projects last year and the Feed-in Tariff scheme due to close next March, the report highlights how energy entrepreneurs are now actively exploring new ways to make investments financially viable as they look ahead to a subsidy-free future.

More than 8.4 million households can now be powered by renewable energy projects outside of the traditional energy supply sector. In total they make up 9.2% of the GB energy mix – double their contribution just five years ago.