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A solar array in South Yorkshire is powering a business and producing green hydrogen too. Could it be a template for other landowners?
For most farmers, energy is a cost to be managed rather than a product to be sold. Electricity bills have climbed, grid connections are hard to come by, and diesel prices swing with the global market.
Solar PV has already helped many farms take back control. At one site near Doncaster, though, the panels are doing something more ambitious: they are helping to make fuel.
Croft Farm, owned by Peter Maxwell, is home to a 2.5MWp ground-mounted solar array installed by Geo Green Power.
The system is forecast to generate more than 2,000MWh a year and save around 500 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking 100 petrol cars off the road.
Power from the array supplies the farm, and it also feeds a GeoPura electrolyser, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Because that electricity is renewable, the hydrogen produced is green.
© Geo Green Power
The hydrogen is used in GeoPura’s Hydrogen Power Units (HPUs), generators that turn hydrogen back into electricity through a fuel cell.
Unlike a diesel generator, the only exhaust is water. HPUs are already being used where grid capacity is non-existent, limited or temporary power is needed – from festivals and film sets to construction sites and data centres.
The scale of the installation is considerable. In total, 6,098 panels feed 22 Solis 110kW inverters, supplying the electrolyser as required.
The mounting frames were designed and installed to avoid the site’s underground methane gas network and cap, a reminder that every farm’s ground conditions shape the engineering.
© Geo Green Power
Croft Farm is not a typical arable or livestock holding. The site was once a coal spoil heap and landfill.
After the heap closed in the 1980s, Mr Maxwell, a former British Coal engineer, began capturing methane from the waste to generate energy.
Solar and hydrogen are the latest chapters in that story, and the farm’s reliable grid connection was a key reason solar made sense in the first place.
“This farm has been a part of Doncaster’s energy story for decades,” says Mr Maxwell.
“Transitioning from coal to green hydrogen is a proud moment for us and the community. It’s about securing a cleaner, more sustainable future for the next generation.”
Few farms have a methane network or a hydrogen specialist on the doorstep, so Croft is not a blueprint to be copied wholesale.
But it points to several opportunities worth weighing up.
Making use of awkward land. Brownfield, former landfill and poorer ground can often host ground-mount solar where other uses are limited.
Croft shows that land with a difficult past can still earn its keep.
Easing grid constraints. Many farms are held back by limited connection or export capacity. In principle, turning surplus generation into a storable fuel on site offers an alternative to switching panels off or waiting years for a grid upgrade.
Cutting reliance on diesel. Farms depend on generators for backup, remote operations and seasonal peaks.
Hydrogen-fuelled units could, over time, replace some of that diesel use with a zero-emission alternative.
New income streams. GeoPura is selling the green hydrogen produced at Croft to the wider market.
That hints at a future in which a farm becomes a local energy hub rather than simply an energy user.
GeoPura hydrogen storage © Geo Green Power
Electrolysers, storage and hydrogen handling represent significant investment, and the economics will depend on a site’s size, grid position and access to a specialist operator.
For most farms, the practical starting point remains; well-designed solar, planned with enough space and connection capacity to leave future options open.
Even so, the direction of travel is clear. James Cunningham, managing director of Geo Green Power, says: “This has been a very exciting project for us to work on.
“Not only has it been one of our biggest installations to date, but it’s also the first time that one of our solar PV systems will be generating green hydrogen.
“This project certainly demonstrates the exciting future that renewable energy and hydrogen technology are set to enjoy.”
Fittingly, Mr Maxwell first approached Geo Green Power after reading an article in a farming magazine.
For farmers wondering whether solar could do more than cut their bills, hydrogen production is a conversation worth having.
Geo Green Power is one of the UK’s leading renewable energy installers.
As experts in renewable energy, our focus is helping businesses and homeowners across the UK to take control of their energy, save money and reduce emissions.
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