Throughout the podcast, Mark and Andrew shared insights into how we are enhancing energy projects at Exagen. As mentioned by Mark, we are actively interested in integrating local communities into solar farming. We’ve been exploring this in many ways, such as: poly tunnels for food production, hosting apiaries for bee keepers, speaking to local allotment owners, and talking about having space for them within our solar projects. 

Following this, Andrew also highlighted our agri-voltaic approach – combining farming with energy production and how this will look within large scale environments. 

To learn more, watch the full podcast below and let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

The COP15 biodiversity summit commenced on 7th December and concluded on 19th December. This was a crucial moment in environmental news as none of the targets from the previous COP10 were achieved. Now more than ever, twelve years later, the stakes are higher with the “age of extinction”, measurable changes should be activated towards healing our planet.

In order to create positive futures, we must tackle the issues surrounding biodiversity. During some of the wider COP15 coverage, environmental correspondent Navin Singh Khaka from BBC World Service highlighted that “climate change effects biodiversity” and there is an intrinsic doom loop between them. The need for greater action, accomplishments and pledges to enhance our life, how we live and survive were therefore focal points for this year’s conference. 

What were some of the main targets for the COP15 summit? 

• Reducing the risks of extinction threatening more than one million species
• Protecting 30% of land and sea
• Restoring degraded ecosystems 

How can we locally enhance biodiversity? 

To enhance biodiversity, we need to come together. Fundamentally, addressing the nature and climate crisis as one entity – is intrinsic to putting this into effect. “1 in 5 species are at risk of extinction” as mentioned by Nick Bruce-White (RSPB). With an awareness of this, we can act with more intentionality towards enhancing biodiversity. Tackling the individual layers surrounding conservation, consumption, and production, one by one. 

Climate activist, Laura Young raised insightful points on how we can do this collectively. From looking after local council areas, tending to your gardens and caring for natural marine species. It can be as simple as adding flower boxes for bees and pollinators in outdoor spaces. This is a smaller but immediate gesture that can add to the bigger picture of solving how we are caring for our natural environment. Alys Laver, Reserves Manager, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust reiterated the benefits of looking after wildlife, from a holistic viewpoint: “By restoring wetlands, we know that the wildlife are coming here and it is supporting biodiversity. There are also health and wellbeing benefits for people, carbon storage properties and this is vital for our fight against climate change”. Through working with local communities and environmental organisations, we can contribute and create a more positive eco-footprint.

The UK has announced a pledge of £30m to support developing countries in reaching the target of protecting 30% of the land and ocean by 2030. However, the environmental secretary Thérèse Coffey has faced criticism that this amount is “nothing like what’s needed”, said Craig Bennett, CEO of Wildlife Trusts, at COP15. Developing countries have pushed for wealthier nations to provide 100 billion per year until 2030 to help finance conservation in their territories.

What obstacles still need to be tackled? 

There was a clear divide during stages of the COP15 summit. Not only between sub-communities, but also financially between developed and undeveloped countries. President Huang Runqiu told journalists of a lot of gaps between parties and stated: “Countries have to demonstrate flexibility, to come to more consensus – that will be good for achieving our goals at the conference”. With the main intention of the conference focusing on curving biodiversity loss, there needs to be more of an alliance between our nations.

Can a nature-positive approach support biodiversity?

Nature positive has multiple definitions – considering different components of nature, reversing biodiversity loss, and moving towards nature recovery and regeneration. By energising a cleaner future and having greater awareness towards the impacts that consumption and production have on our environment, we can move towards an environmentally sustainable future. This will feed back into our biodiverse ecosystem.

Our environmental landscape 

The COP15 summit has reflected the collective changes that need to take place for biodiversity to expand and grow. Evidently, there needs to be more collaborative thinking on the joint issues taking place. Tony Juniper, head of Natural England, emphasised the importance of making nature disclosures by businesses mandatory by 2030 and to halve production and consumption by 2030, too. Are these goals attainable and how can we ensure that they are achieved?

We should consider the environment from a holistic point of view. Treaty on waste, COP15 on biodiversity, COP27 on our climate – hopefully through this, we will close the gap on the loss of our biodiverse ecosystem. These are important discussions that remain interlinked and should be examined together to bring greater harmony and restoration to the planet.

At Exagen, we have a systematic approach to delivering projects that provide significant biodiversity improvement, as well as ensuring energy and food security. There are extreme pressures on agriculture, often at the detriment of biodiversity – in light of recent global changes following Brexit, with landowners getting less to set aside land on the fringes of biodiversity. Therefore, solar projects offer a greatly secure and diverse income that allows farmers to continue farming sustainably. The solar farms also enhance vegetation, the cessation of pesticides and insecticide use, all of which is hugely beneficial.

Our team’s experience in delivering local benefits that work in harmony with nature, farmers and the local community has deepened with every project that we have delivered. We are continually exploring and researching where we can increase both food and energy production to help heal our planet. 

To learn more, visit our biodiversity policy.

Kali from the Chronicle talks to Mark about how we have scaled back plans by listening to the community.

Exagen bosses say panels to the south east of the site, near Whittonstall, have been removed from the plans.

A developer has scaled back plans for a Northumberland solar farm after residents raised concerns about it becoming an eyesore.

Exagen Limited has lodged a pre-planning application for a renewable energy park at Highfield, near Whittonstall that could comprise between 75,000 and 100,000 solar panels.

Known as Highfield Energy Park, some residents are vehemently opposed to the proposals saying Exagen has failed to consult with them over the plans, and fear it will ruin the landscape and have a negative impact on wildlife.

READ MORE: Northumberland home to one of best new woodland cabin and lodge stays in the UK

Now, following a series of public exhibitions Exagen’s development director Mark Rowcroft says they have changed the plans after listening to the views of residents at a series of public exhibitions, a question and answer session and webinar.

He said: “We have gone away with all that information and we have refined the design and go out to the community again and say ‘Right, we’ve listened, this is what we’ve ended up with’ and that’s what we’ve based the planning application submission on.

“The main change has been removing an area of panels to the south east of the site.

These were the ones that essentially wrapped around the existing properties that were there but were least well screened when you looked from Ebchester and County Durham into the site.

Those are the ones that didn’t really benefit from the extensive tree planting that was there. So we have removed them in their entirety.”

As well as the visual impact, Mr Rowcroft said concerns had been raised about the negative impact the scheme would have on wildlife in the area.

He added: “We have also increased the woodland buffer so the standoff that runs through the middle of the site where the access track is, we have increased that standoff further and in doing so we have increased the area we have used for new planting and habitat creations. So those are the main ones and the site is pretty different to the one we originally had at consultation.”

Campaigners fear the development will destroy the “treasured rural landscape” and industrialise the rural area, and would have a devastating impact on the community, wildlife and ancient woodland.

“People have these knee jerk concerns that they have seen on the internet and what people have told them, but as soon as we have an opportunity to talk to them and explain how these things work a lot of these fears tend to vanish,” Mr Rowcroft said.

Despite a full Environmental Impact Assessment not needing to be carried out, Mr Rowcroft said all the surveys had been done.

“The local authority still says it doesn’t require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) but all of the reports that have gone into it have been done.

“In terms of our obligations to the planning process, we have not only done them but we have gone further than them to ensure we full understand what is going on on the site.

“We have done a full Environmental Impact Assessment and we are also doing ongoing bird surveys that weren’t asked for as part of the screening process but so we understand all of the site’s sensitivities.

“When it comes to the final building of the project we will be totally informed about what to watch out for and what to mitigate.

“It needs us to start thinking about what we need to put on the site. The solar farm is one element of it. What new habitats can be created? A lot of that is decided by the assessments we do so we know what is there and what we want to promote on the site.”

A full planning application is expected to be submitted to Northumberland County Council in the coming weeks, giving residents a further opportunity to comment on the plans.

Mr Rowcroft added: “I always say to people if you are going to object, look and tell us what you object to but also tell us what you want in terms of changing the design, even if you don’t want it to happen, it might happen, and if it’s going to happen it should be in a form that’s most acceptable to you.”

Find out how reaching our full solar energy potential means looking not only to the skies, but to the soil.

Read the original article on SG Voice. Featuring Exagen’s Development Director, Mark Rowcroft.

Boosting UK renewable energy is a key route to tackling the energy price crisis, with solar power the cheapest form of electricity today. The Prime Minister’s COP27 speech reaffirmed his commitment to clean energy and with the UK targeting 70GW of solar generation by 2035, huge potential exists to grow solar generation.

The UK currently has some of the poorest soil quality in Europe

Yet misconceptions stubbornly remain: such as the argument frequently presented by opponents of solar farms that they “industrialise the land”, without realising the extent to which UK farmland is already industrialised.

A common misconception is that UK farmland is bursting with wildlife and biodiversity and that a green field is a flourishing natural environment.

Digging a little deeper reveals that expansive monocrop cultures, intensive grazing and overuse of pesticides, insecticides and fertilisers have punished nature and eroded soil quality, turning some fields into ecological wastelands.

Our soil, which stores as much carbon as all plants do above ground, is in desperate need of recovery. The European Commission estimates Europe loses nine million tonnes of soil annually – equivalent to 275 football pitches each day – and soil degradation costs the UK £1.2bn per year.

Soil degradation affects the carbon and food systems

This loss of both the volume and quality of soil impacts everything from our ability to absorb more carbon to how much food we can grow – slowly but surely diminishing our ability to feed a growing population.

What’s more, a UN report on global soil quality has found that the global production of industrial chemicals each year has doubled since 2000 to 2.3 billion tonnes, and is projected to nearly double again by 2030, meaning soil pollution is expected to increase further.

Here’s where that misconception comes into play: far from industrialising our land, solar farms actually boost its biodiversity, bringing it back to nature. When soil is given the opportunity to rest and recover, it can start to restore the nutrients that were lost to industrialised farming.

Boosting biodiversity through the deployment of solar

By introducing wild and native plant species as part of the project, solar farms can accelerate this process and, through habitat restoration along site borders and around panels, create new ecosystems for birds and pollinators. All of which boosts biodiversity in previous barren land – ultimately restoring soil quality for future farming.

Solar farms have a lifespan of up to 40 years. This may seem like a long time, but for fields that have stood for centuries, it is a mere moment: time enough to help restore the soil, but not a significant disruption to the land’s lifespan.

And unlike other forms of renewable energy, solar does not need solid foundations – it is quick to erect, quick to dismantle and can leave no trace. It disturbs less than 2% of the land on which it is installed, leaving the remaining land free for restoration initiatives such as wildflower meadows and organic grazing to manage the height of plants.

Research from the University of Leicester has shown that managing solar sites to grow wildflowers rather than turf can quadruple bee numbers. And a solar farm in Devon has increased local bird and invertebrate species in the six years since installation by carefully restoring habitats such as rough grassland and hedgerows; the farm now also serves as a site for educational visits for schools for renewables workshops.

The UK needs to work on improving its soil quality, for carbon and food

We cannot keep squeezing nutrients from our soil, leaving nothing for future generations. But we must also consider farmers and landowners and create alternative income streams that alleviate the need for over-farming and allow land the time it needs to recover.

Renewable developers must take seriously their responsibility to generate income at the same time as clean energy, while supporting the natural environment and agriculture, placing it front and centre of new projects.
Land regeneration is as vital to securing a low-carbon future as decarbonising our energy systems. Protecting and nurturing biodiversity has the double impact of restoring soil quality to sequester carbon and improve soil quality and farming yields. It’s a win for nature and a win for cheaper, cleaner electricity that ultimately delivers a decarbonised future for both our food and energy systems.

…

Research from the University of Leicester has shown that managing solar sites to grow wildflowers rather than turf can quadruple bee numbers.

The investment will support Exagen’s team to rapidly scale-up to develop, own and operate 5GW+ of generation and energy storage capacity over the next 10 years, a pivotal decade for energy transition.

● The initial investment will inject new capital into Exagen, a renewable technology (“rentech”) company and is to acquire projects from its development pipeline.

● The funding will be used to further strengthen Exagen’s proprietary technology platform and development team and fund new community-focused development opportunities, including three solar and battery storage projects across the Midlands and North East.

● With the assistance of Octopus, Exagen’s experienced mission-driven team aim to develop and construct over 500MW of generation and energy storage projects annually, supporting the UK and global energy transition, strengthening grid resilience and delivering renewable capacity to hit our decarbonisation goals.

● Exagen has secured land and a grid connection for a 500MW/1GWh standalone mega-battery in the Midlands. The battery will have the capacity to export the equivalent electricity usage of 235,000 homes in a single day and create long-term jobs in the region.

LONDON, 24th August 2022 — Exagen, the renewable technology (“rentech”) company building the next generation of utility scale solar and battery storage facilities, has today announced a multi-million pound investment from the Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), a new fund managed by Octopus Energy Generation, one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy.

Octopus’s initial transaction has been structured as a hybrid investment and project acquisition. This will fund a corporate expansion and the acquisition of three co-located solar and battery storage projects with an aggregate capacity of ca. 400MW across the Midlands and the North East, where Exagen is opening a second office.

The transaction cements Exagen’s plans to rapidly scale and build its current development pipeline of over 2GW of utility scale generation and storage projects throughout the UK. Exagen plans to develop and operate 5GW of such projects over the next decade and expand internationally.

Jeremy Littman, founder and CEO of Exagen, said: “All of us at Exagen are thrilled by this ground-breaking deal with Octopus, which will support us in our mission to build smarter, flexible renewable generation projects across the grid, enabling communities access to cleaner, cheaper energy. We couldn’t have achieved this important milestone without the conviction of our team, each member a shareholder. Together, we bring decades of experience across renewable energy, power, banking, private equity, development, programme management and engineering. I believe our commitment to our staff, our technology-focused approach to operations, and above all our passion for local communities and the environment has aligned us with the Octopus team and we’re all looking forward to delivering on our promise together.”

In line with Exagen’s large-scale storage strategy, its development team has secured land and grid connection for a 500MW/1GWh standalone mega-battery in the Midlands. Expected to be operational in 2027, this site will be one of the largest battery storage sites in the UK with the capacity to provide the energy equivalent to 235,000 UK homes’ daily electricity usage and will create long-term jobs and economic opportunities in the region.

Exagen’s commitment to local areas and communities creates projects that provide enduring benefit through both amenity and opportunity. Its integrated approach includes large-scale standalone and co-located battery storage and renewable generation projects using its in-house proprietary rentech software platform, applying a data-led approach to every stage of a project’s lifecycle.

As part of this commitment, Exagen builds meaningful relationships with farmers and landowners to create biodiversity-boosting sites that tackle the threat of fuel poverty, energy security and the climate emergency.

Mark Rowcroft, the Development Director at Exagen, said: “It does not have to be a choice between renewable energy, agriculture or biodiversity. With the right projects in the right places and considered land management, we can have it all.

“Solar farms can help diversify and stabilise farmers’ incomes and our approach of working closely with farmers means that we boost biodiversity beyond ‘just adding wildflowers’. We strive to create a symbiotic link between natural habitat and the built environment, leaving the land with increased biodiversity, improved soils, and enhanced amenity at the end of the project’s life.

“Exagen is also developing solutions to combine production of food and energy increasing local sustainability through community food systems and using waste heat to boost yields so that the issues of energy security and food security are not competing and can be solved together.”

Octopus shares the desire to support Exagen’s growth strategy through close collaboration and strategic alignment, intending to introduce opportunities and prospective partners to the company.

Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, adds: “Making the first investment from this new renewable development fund is a major milestone for us and we’ve got some more coming up. Working with Exagen, there’s a massive opportunity to scale solar and battery storage projects – and these will play an absolutely integral role in the flexible renewable energy system of the future.”

Exagen is led by renewable energy and bio-technology entrepreneur and investor Jeremy Littman, founder of Osprey Charging, the first electric vehicle rapid charging network operation in the UK. The management board comprises experts in the renewable energy, power, banking and private equity sectors, while its delivery team brings decades of development, programme management and engineering experience. Together, these mission-led innovators have created an inclusive, flat-hierarchy culture that rewards its team members – everyone at Exagen is a shareholder. The company is expanding rapidly, opening a second office in the North to complement its London HQ, and will be hiring at scale to support development.

Through its partnerships with landowners and farmers and social engagement with local communities, Exagen actively supports projects that matter to the people who live there. With full data visibility from origination to operation, each of its energy projects is consistently and proactively managed.

For more information, or to request an interview, please contact Greenhouse Communications:

exagen@greenhouse.agency

The iconic tower near Tate Britain was completed in 1963 as London’s tallest building.

It was one of the first buildings to rise above St Paul’s Cathedral in the capital. Millbank was the base for The Labour Party’s 1997 general election campaign “Operation Victory”, and then later became the headquarters of The Conservative Party.

The building also previously provided offices to the United Nations and was even used a preferred location for the filming of the BBC’s iconic series Doctor Who.