02 / What we do · Solar & Energy
Whether you have been approached by a developer or are wondering if land could be suitable, we help you understand the questions before you consider the answers.
Tell us about your landSolar and battery proposals can create long-term income, but they also create long-term commitments. A disciplined early review helps distinguish a credible route from a speculative approach.
We establish whether the approach concerns solar generation, battery storage, a cable route, a grid compound or a combination. We also look at who is approaching, how far their work has progressed and what they are asking the landowner to commit to.
Usable area, access, topography, nearby electricity infrastructure, planning constraints, landscape, ecology, flood risk and existing land use all shape the early picture. This is a high-level screen, not a substitute for technical feasibility or a grid offer.
Exclusivity, option and lease documents allocate control, time, risk, cost and future obligations. We help landowners recognise the commercial questions and ensure independent legal, tax, valuation and technical advice is brought in before commitments are made.
That may mean asking the existing developer better questions, comparing interest, commissioning targeted work or deciding the site should not progress. We introduce appropriate specialists and developers where a properly scoped next stage is justified.
Solar generation and battery energy storage can appear together, but they operate differently and can create different land, safety, access and planning considerations.
A ground-mounted solar scheme needs a workable panel area as well as space for access, inverters, substations, landscaping and environmental measures. The relationship with farming, field boundaries, rights and neighbouring property should be understood as part of the whole layout.
A battery energy storage system stores and releases electricity. It can occupy less land than a solar farm but may bring intensive infrastructure, access, noise, fire-safety and drainage questions. Specialist design and technical evidence are essential.
A potential connection can be more important than the apparent size of the holding. The route may also cross third-party land or require separate rights. Proximity to infrastructure does not itself confirm capacity, cost or deliverability.
Decision-makers consider current national and local policy alongside landscape, ecology, agricultural land, heritage, flood risk, residential amenity and cumulative effects. Larger projects may follow a different consenting route, so the right planning advice matters from the outset.
A developer needs room to investigate a project. A landowner needs clear limits, meaningful obligations and independent advice. Early documents set that balance.
Check the land included, the exclusivity period, extension rights and the acts you would be prevented from taking. Be clear about surveys, access and whether the developer can assign its interest to another party.
Heads of terms should make the proposed option and lease structure intelligible: payments, review mechanisms, access, retained use, cable rights, construction, insurance, restoration and what happens if the project never proceeds.
The developer will have its own professional team. The landowner should appoint a solicitor experienced in renewable energy and obtain tax, valuation and other specialist advice as needed. Professional costs should be discussed before work begins.
Surveys, planning work and grid applications may run for a long period without producing an operational scheme. Decisions should allow for delay, failure and changes of developer as well as the hoped-for outcome.
No desktop checklist can confirm a project. These factors help identify what needs proper investigation and where a proposal may face material difficulty.
The process is proportionate to the land and the question. Not every enquiry needs every specialist or every stage.
Send the broad location and any non-confidential proposal, plan or heads of terms you have received.
We discuss income, control, farming, succession, timing and your tolerance for a long development process.
We review the land and the obvious commercial, physical and planning questions at a proportionate level.
The developer, structure and requested commitments are considered before you grant exclusivity or sign terms.
Specialist legal, planning, grid, tax, valuation and technical advice is introduced where it is genuinely required.
You decide whether to negotiate, compare interest, investigate further or step away with a clearer basis.
These answers provide a starting point. The position for a particular holding depends on its facts and the current professional advice.
There is no single minimum that proves viability. Project scale, usable layout, grid connection, access, planning constraints and the developer’s model all matter. Acreage can help establish whether a more detailed assessment is justified without presenting acreage alone as an answer.
Not necessarily. Aspect and slope influence layout and output, but modern schemes can use different panel orientations. The wider site, grid and planning context usually matters more than one simple physical characteristic.
Some solar schemes allow continued grazing, but it depends on layout, ground conditions, operational rules and the lease. Any continuing agricultural use should be clearly addressed in the design and legal documents rather than assumed.
Yes. Agricultural land classification can be an important planning consideration, alongside food production, landscape, ecology and cumulative impacts. A planning and land-quality specialist should advise on the particular site and current policy.
Generation or storage infrastructure needs an agreed way to connect to the electricity network. Available capacity, connection location, cost and timing can be decisive. Only the relevant network process and technical work can confirm a viable connection.
An option commonly gives a developer a defined period in which to investigate the site and, if agreed conditions are met, require the landowner to enter a lease or complete another transaction. Its extent, payments, obligations and termination rights need independent legal advice before signature.
These are normally long-term commitments, but the precise term, extensions and decommissioning period are negotiated for each project. The consequences for ownership, farming, finance and future use should be understood before terms are agreed.
Responsibility for decommissioning, restoration, security and cost should be dealt with expressly in the project documents. A landowner’s solicitor and relevant technical advisers should test whether those provisions remain effective throughout the project.
Not before understanding what land is affected, how long the restriction lasts, what the developer must do and whether the proposed commercial route is credible. Taking advice first preserves your ability to ask questions and compare the approach.
No. Acreage Rural helps landowners understand the early land and commercial questions and assemble an appropriate team. Engineering, grid, planning, valuation, tax and legal matters are handled by suitably qualified specialists.
A clear view
What comes next
You do not need to know the answer before speaking to us.