Land-related costs can be up to 25% of the Opex for a solar asset, depending on geography. They’re one of the first pieces of the puzzle to solve for developers building assets, and one of the last pieces of the puzzle to revisit for asset owners and managers.  

But it’s a cost-line worth looking at once in a while. Especially if you’re high up on the costs and low on the utilization density scale. As an asset owner, you might have options. There might be room for negotiations with landowners or lease terminations, or it might force a consideration for more effective land utilisation (e.g., dual-use agrivoltaics applications, a clear vegetation management strategy). 

So what does the UK land utilisation curve look like?

New sites use less and less space per MW 

The average solar farm land utilization in the UK is 5.5 acres/MW, but this has been evolving since the first sites were built.

Sites built in 2012/13/14 were on average 6.5 acres/MW. From 2014 to 2019, the average was 5.5 acres/MW. From 2020 onwards, the average has been ~4.5 acres/MW. Part of it is technology: wattage per panel area increased. And part of it is in response to regulatory change: as the FiT was phased out, project margins tightened and every acre of land opportunity was increasingly optimised.

Interested in discussing further?

Get in touch and let’s discuss. There are still opportunities to optimise your landholding situation from land shrinkwrapping to agrivoltaics. 

Or take a look at the asset in context on AssetSearch: www.thesolarmanager.com/assetsearch

There are also other Opex line items to review. Land costs are only one piece of the puzzle. Get in touch if you want to benchmark your other operational costs in the UK and beyond.