Farmers getting started with energy bottlenecks

The agricultural sector can play a crucial role in the energy transition, in particular because of the scope to produce renewable energy. However, forerunners in the sector are encountering bottlenecks. A group of arable farmers and livestock farmers is actively working on this.

There are agricultural entrepreneurs in the Netherlands who are already fully engaged in generating sustainable energy. They also try to temporarily store that energy or to apply it in their business operations. As pioneers, they encounter various obstacles in this regard. A group of about 20 entrepreneurs from the arable and livestock sectors will discuss this with policy officials and network managers in mid-December.

Supply energy directly
Arable farmers and livestock farmers want, among other things, that the double energy tax on energy storage is abolished. They also believe that it should be possible to supply locally generated energy directly to the end user. Then fewer investments are needed in strengthening the grid infrastructure.

Furthermore, calls are made for lowering contract costs during periods of low demand and high supply. The same applies to the investment costs in the infrastructure. This investment of €25.000 on average is an obstacle for entrepreneurs to further increase their electricity production.

Agenda for the coming years
In total, there are 8 themes on the agenda to raise with the government and network administrators. The action takes place from the BoerEnergie innovation network. Within this network, farmers who are fully engaged in incorporating renewable energy into their farms are working on a research, policy and action agenda for the coming years.

This is done together with partners from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Energy & Agriculture: Alliander, Jules energy, LTO-North, Stedin, Wageningen research and Windunie. This PPP was launched in mid-2018 to give substance to the role of agriculture in the Dutch ambition of 100% sustainable energy consumption by 2050. Among other things, work is being done on (new) revenue models for farmers who contribute to the energy transition.

Jeanette Pennings

Jeannet has her roots in the flower bulb sector and she grew up on an agricultural company in the northern part of North Holland. As a generalist she reports for Boerenbusiness across all sectors. She is also exploring the possibilities of sponsored advertising.

j.pennings@boerenbusiness. Nl

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