Renewable energy is an integral part of John Seed’s mixed farming enterprise in the Scottish Borders.
A farm-energy pioneer, Seed returned to the family farm in 2008 and has since added around £100,000 to the bottom line of his business as a result of renewable energy schemes.
Drawing on knowledge gained working in the biomass industry – Seed is chairman of renewable energy firm Helius Energy – he designed Europe’s largest straw-fuelled batch boiler to power the farm’s grain drier, free-range egg unit, farmhouse and farm buildings.
The 950kW unit is fuelled using between 200-300 tonnes of rape straw every year, providing ash for use as soil fertiliser on the 500-acre farm near Gavinton, Duns.
Seeds says he has saved more than £60,000 a year on heating costs as well as receiving around £30,000 a year in Renewable Heat Incentive support payments.
“That’s transformational for a business like this,” says Seed.
The boiler is also used to dry woodchip and kiln-dry logs, and Seed has since set up biomass boiler business Topling, with the farm acting as a demonstration site.
“Rural resilience is what it’s all about,” says Seed. “Small family farms find it harder and harder to survive and compete, and one of the biggest costs you have on all of these farms is energy.”
He says investment in renewable energy has ensured a future for the business.
Other green energy schemes on the farm include a 50kW ground-mounted solar array alongside the poultry unit and a refurbished second-hand 75kW wind turbine.
Seed says the two schemes mean the business is now a net exporter of electricity saving up to £14,000 a year in electricity costs. He now plans to invest in electric vehicles, with a view to running them off home-produced energy.
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