We originally looked into funding the rig with community shares, and Southern Solar do a lot of work in that area so their name kept coming up."

Peter Brown Tablehurst Farm

 

In the middle of Ashdown Forest, where Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin used to play, you can find Tablehurst Farm, a community-supported farm that’s been run on biodynamic principles for nearly 40 years. Before Peter Brown came along, Tablehurst was owned by the neighbouring Emerson College, a Steiner adult education centre that used it as a teaching aid. But by the early 90s, Emerson was struggling to find the £30,000 subsidy that year required to keep it afloat, and the search was on for a new owner.

 

Peter arrived from Germany in 1994, armed with first-hand experience of community agriculture and confident that he could make it work in Forest Row. Over two years of energetic fundraising he raised £160,00, then gradually built the network of 500+ volunteers and shareholders needed to make Tablehurst Farm Solar not only financially viable, but socially valuable.

 

The shop is the heart of the business, but there’s much more competition now that organic food a common sight on supermarket shelves. “At the beginning people came from further afield and we couldn’t make enough produce, but we’re much more local now.” Nonetheless, Peter sees this as a positive development – a sign, perhaps, that society is starting to come round to his way of thinking.

 

And then there’s the large solar array on the roof of an old barn. It’s a recent arrival at Tablehurst, but one that embodies the biodynamic principle of harnessing nature’s power for better farming. “We’re constantly looking at how we can close the loops”, Peter says, “and we want to be self-sufficient in energy as in everything else.”

 

The spring sunshine is clear and bright, and Tablehurst’s new solar panels are working flat out. The 40 kiloWatt rig can feed power into the grid, but the farm’s own energy needs are well-matched with the particulars of solar supply. “We’ve always used more power when the sun comes out because of all the meat chillers, but now we’re generating more at the same time” says Peter, obviously rather taken with the elegance of the new arrangement. This, I find myself thinking, is very Forest Row.

 

And it’s those same chillers – whose round-the-clock operation is crucial to the farm’s survival – that gave Peter another powerful reason to go solar. “Solar power’s better for the environment, but we’re also making the farm secure for the future. If Russia turns off the gas pipelines and prices rocket, our solar panels will give us some protection. It’s partly the ability to keep the farm running, but it’s also being able to keep providing food for the community.”

 

Finance for the panels came from Triodos, the only bank willing to secure the loan against the farm’s livestock and dead stock rather than land or buildings. For Peter, this concession was crucial: “We didn’t want a mortgage on the farm itself – lots of people chipped in to make it happen, and we couldn’t have that land turning over to the bank if we ever went bust. Whatever happens, we want the farm to still be there.”

After getting three very similar quotes from rival installers, Peter decided to go with Southern Solar based on recommendations from friends and contacts who had worked with them before. “We originally looked into funding the rig with community shares, and Southern Solar do a lot of work in that area so their name kept coming up.”

 

The aim of farm was to become self sufficient in their energy. Southern Solar have been helping Tablehurst with energy management and planning, installing tools so that they optimise the use of the energy they are generating themselves.

 

But even with £150,000 of finance in place and the installation in safe hands, the government’s abrupt Feed-in Tariff cuts very nearly derailed the entire project and the installers had to race to get Tablehurst’s panels up in time. “They really stretched themselves to get it finished before the cuts came in, and I’m really grateful for that – I think they like the philosophy we have here.” said Peter of Southern Solar Ltd. The panels are already working well for the farm, but Peter’s also keen to develop the educational potential. People get really fired up about doing green things, and next the Tablehurst team are finding the money for a live energy display ton put in the shop to raise awareness.

 

Ever since I found out about Tablehurst farm, I’ve been inspired by their ethos and Peter’s vision for the place. Community projects are part of Southern Solar’s DNA, so it was a real pleasure to help them make it work.

 

Southern Solar MD Howard Johns