Everything is an issue. Everything needs thought about and blue sky thinking. OUT OF THE BOX. Places are planting trees to cool rivers because of the loss of fish. Lots of Old Coal Mines and Bings about, lots of derelict Runways and lots of land where there was nuclear plants and will be decades before ever built on.

There are quite a few former airfields now being converted to solar farms here as well. However, farmers are complaining about not being allowed to grow food on their own land, leading to more imports, which seems counterproductive in reducing emissions.

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

Can you provide a link please..

Its called Agrivoltaic farming and has been happening for many years. Grapes seem to be a favourite crop to work with but I have seen others.

Below Youtube vid is a specific example. Dozens of others throughout thew world and 15 commercial ones running in the UK as per the link at the bottom...

4 million Euro investment with 6,000 solar panels to protect and enhance his grape crop which are for Cognac production.

The Times of India

A French winemaker spent €4 million on 6,000 solar panels...

A cognac grower in western France has voluntarily given up the right to call his wine cognac, all so he could build a solar canopy over his vineyard. David Moreau planted four hectares of ugni blanc g

SolarPanelsForFarms.uk

Agrivoltaics UK 2026 | Solar Grazing, Crops + SFI Explained

Agrivoltaics in the UK — solar panels plus sheep grazing, pollinator strips or crops. ~15 commercial projects operate today.

Agrivoltaics — also called solar sharing or dual-use solar — is the practice of designing a solar PV installation so the land beneath the panels remains productive for grazing, pollinator habitat or even compatible crop cultivation. It is the most credible answer to the food-vs-energy land debate that has politicised large UK solar farms since 2023, and it has become commercially attractive for UK farmers in 2026 thanks to Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments that stack on top of solar generation income.

Is agrivoltaics actually used in the UK?

Yes — and the evidence base is now solid rather than speculative. A CMS Law expert guide (2025) reported around 15 commercial operational agrivoltaic projects in the UK, most of them small at roughly 1–5 MW. Sheep grazing under panels is the most-evidenced use-case: a 2025 Applied Energy study (Neesham-McTiernan et al.) treats UK solar grazing as already deployed and models national land potential for dual-use solar. The national-scale picture is just as supportive. University of Sheffield research (February 2025) found agrivoltaics could help the UK hit its solar PV targets without sacrificing farmland, naming East and South-East England (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire) as optimal regions. The gov.uk Solar Roadmap (June 2025) explicitly recognises dual-use and agrivoltaic solar as part of the route to the UK's 2030 solar ambition.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by lol-lol

Interesting video, I did notice that most of the examples shown seem to be arrays for the farmers' own use rather than what we currently see here in the UK where they are a commercial producer of electricity, as shown in the screenshots taken from Google Maps.

Also the panels used for the agri use all appear to be mounted at some height above the ground. Quick observation also suggests many obstacles to the use of mechanised machines with the need to avoid all the panel structures and the electrical wiring and connections. But I can see how, subject to the right considerations and the mechanical construction of the system, to withstand high winds etc they could be used in the right conditions.

When we had high winds recently, the 2-panel-wide solar farm I showed, panels mounted low to the ground, suffered considerable damage, with many panels being ripped away from the system. So does that mean that we have stronger winds than Australia, I wonder, or inadequate construction strength?

So Mr an announcement a day PM is opening a consultation on how many EV,s will need to be first registered and by when. Let's see him and every MP receiving transportation from the public purse be in an EV, even if it is an Armoured one. And the mileage allowance for using their own vehicles set at 15 pence a mile. That's enough for their home charging or at grace and favour homes or public funded accomodation.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Evolution13

2 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

So Mr an announcement a day PM is opening a consultation on how many EV,s will need to be first registered and by when. Let's see him and every MP receiving transportation from the public purse be in an EV, even if it is an Armoured one. And the mileage allowance for using their own vehicles set at 15 pence a mile. That's enough for their home charging or at grace and favour homes or public funded accomodation.

I personally favour dropping percentage targets and moving to lower vat on EVs which is what it can partly viewed as. So I "pay" £3750 vat but just get a £1500 EV grant. Better just to make EVs 10% VAT rather than 20% to encourage EVs but as we see the technology sells itself ie much lower running costs with both energy and servicing.

Sadly for manufacturers the benefits of EV,s are not meaning enough are bought new and first registerd to people buying or leasing for private use and all the pounds out of their pocket after they are already taxed. Maybe taxed on pensions even. Truth is Public Charging all times needed by much more than even 60% of drivers. Real world UK wide. PS, discounts on new EV,s all over the place and still the vast majority of drivers buying their new vehicle is swerving an EV.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Evolution13

3 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

Sadly for manufacturers the benefits of EV,s are not meaning enough are bought new and first registerd to people buying or leasing for private use and all the pounds out of their pocket after they are already taxed. Maybe taxed on pensions even. Truth is Public Charging all times needed by much more than even 60% of drivers. Real world UK wide.

Renault 5 was the best selling in the uk last month, not a Chinese car or a Korean one.

ID2 / Polo EVs should sell well, particularly the Epiq and Raval version. Shame we get them later due to the first batches will be LHD and then the RHD versions get made. New ID3 and 4 Neos look like big improvement over first versions and could see the bigger sales. If not there are good Kias to choose as well as the successful Renaults.

1 hour ago, Evolution13 said:

So Mr an announcement a day PM is opening a consultation on how many EV,s will need to be first registered and by when. Let's see him and every MP receiving transportation from the public purse be in an EV, even if it is an Armoured one. And the mileage allowance for using their own vehicles set at 15 pence a mile. That's enough for their home charging or at grace and favour homes or public funded accomodation.

If those in charge did that, then the message would be so much more powerful in the eyes of others, but when they give a diktat that we should all be looking at and adopting the electric option, even if home charging is off the table for most drivers. But you don't see them in electric cars, armoured or not; then it's right back at the same level as BJ and his cabinet when they were having office parties and gatherings while others had the police knock their front doors down and were prosecuted for it.

If you really want people to take the advice, then they themselves need to take the lead and set the examples.

They would get a far better take-up rate if they had loads of charging hubs all over the place, loads more than there are currently, and these hubs need to be either government-funded and operated or part of the national grid or network operators. Have software installed in cars that identifies the car, its owner and who their current power supplier is, and then they get billed directly by that supplier at the special concessionary rate, so it enables all drivers to tap into the system and cars regardless of whether they can charge at home or not. Keep the PPM scheme to help replace the fuel duty so those who do a lot of miles pay pro rata as do ICE drivers. Take away all the refunds tax incentives, etc.

If they had proper joined-up thinking like that in the beginning, then they might have witnessed many more EVs on the road right now.

48 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

The problem with videos like this is that they are not giving the real truth, as often the reason for these discounts is that they might well be high on the insurers' risk lists and might well result in extremely high insurance costs.

To avoid that statement being misconstrued as coming from a perceived EV hater (☹️) there are also loads of ICE cars that the insurers have also placed high on their risk list for a number of reasons, ranging from a Ford Fiesta up to Range Rovers. Some of these reasons are the cost of items like headlamps and replacement windscreens (£350 for a Fiesta windscreen as opposed to almost £2,000 for a Tesla) and of course there is the old postcode lottery, as certain cars are sometimes uninsurable depending on location.

Many of the Chinese cars, regardless of their drivetrain, are extremely high on their lists because of their perceived support available. Lack of dealers, lack of parts and lack of knowledgeable and skilled people in the event of EVs repairs if and when they go wrong.

I would advise anyone tempted by one of those apparently blinding offers to get a firm and binding insurance quote before agreeing to buy the car; they might well discover the real reason for their bargain-basement price, and this is applicable to ICE cars as well – just avoid any confusion.

You really do need to pick up the stone and see what is lurking beneath it before making any purchase decision.

Edited 46 minutes ago46 min by Graham Butcher

6 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

The problem with videos like this is that they are not giving the real truth, as often the reason for these discounts is that they might well be high on the insurers' risk lists and might well result in extremely high insurance costs.

To avoid that statement being misconstrued as coming from a perceived EV hater (☹️) there are also loads of ICE cars that the insurers have also placed high on their risk list for a number of reasons, ranging from a Ford Fiesta up to Range Rovers. Some of these reasons are the cost of items like headlamps and replacement windscreens (£350 for a Fiesta windscreen as opposed to almost £2,000 for a Tesla) and of course there is the old postcode lottery, as certain cars are sometimes uninsurable depending on location.

Many of the Chinese cars, regardless of their drivetrain, are extremely high on their lists because of their perceived support available. Lack of dealers, lack of parts and lack of knowledgeable and skilled people in the event of EVs repairs if and when they go wrong.

I would advise anyone tempted by one of those apparently blinding offers to get a firm and binding insurance quote before agreeing to buy the car; they might well discover the real reason for their bargain-basement price, and this is applicable to ICE cars as well – just avoid any confusion.

You really do need to pick up the stone and see what is lurking beneath it before making any purchase decision.

He also is just plain wrong on several counts.

Renault 4 is not roomy, back seats are only for those under 6 foor.

Could not work out if it was a price which factors in government grants so not as big a discount from the manufacturer.

Also what batteries are they ? Not mentioned that which can be key.

EV drivers, newspapers etc, constantly quote the Gridserve 90p per KWh charge price,and as the dominate motorway services are used to "show" how expensive EV charging can be.

Last month did one of my rare public charges which was at a Gridseve bank of chargers.

Got deducted the £10 deposit from my Am Ex card and for the last 15 days been watching my Am Ex live statement on the Am Ex website.

Nothing, was expecting about a £35 charge as downloaded about 40 KWhs.

Is there a time limit on how quick they put thru the actual cist of charge ?

If Gridserve have missed the boat then I have had a 25p per KWh charge from them !!

27 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

EV drivers, newspapers etc, constantly quote the Gridserve 90p per KWh charge price,and as the dominate motorway services are used to "show" how expensive EV charging can be.

Last month did one of my rare public charges which was at a Gridseve bank of chargers.

Got deducted the £10 deposit from my Am Ex card and for the last 15 days been watching my Am Ex live statement on the Am Ex website.

Nothing, was expecting about a £35 charge as downloaded about 40 KWhs.

Is there a time limit on how quick they put thru the actual cist of charge ?

If Gridserve have missed the boat then I have had a 25p per KWh charge from them !!

Sadly, I doubt that you'll be that lucky.