Large-scale capture of wind and solar energy requires the management of significant areas of land, and – if the market for renewable energy continues to grow at the current rate – farmers will occupy a strategic position within the energy market within two decades. According to CarbonFree, a Cambridge UK based research company that has recently completed a study of the farmed renewable energy market, while incumbent energy producers are starting to look beyond oil and petroleum, farmers need to look beyond ethanol and start to build comprehensive energy supply businesses. According to Peter Kruger, Analyst with CarbonFree, farmed renewable energy conforms to an energy generation model that NextGen energy producers find attractive. “For several decades the energy market has been dominated by a handful of companies and closed to new entrants. Advocates of a distributed energy generation model, the so called ‘Internet of Energy’, are particularly interested in farmed renewable energy – in the main because this source of power is readily available and is a good fit with their plans for a reformed energy market. Much, however, will depend on the agricultural sector’s ability to organise itself and provide a comprehensive range of energy products and […]