News

Welsh farmers supported by HSBC

A  Carmarthenshire livestock farmer has installed a wind turbine on his 100 acre  farm to diversify income and reduce costs after securing funding from HSBC’s Wales Agriculture team.

John  Griffiths,  who  runs  the  farm  with his wife Llinos, said the wind turbine  will  make  a ‘significant’ contribution to the income of the farm, which is based at Y Bwthyn.

John worked with HSBC agricultural manager Sarah Williams, based at the Lammas  Street  branch  in  Carmarthen,  to  secure the finance to fund the project.

HSBC  reports  a strong increase in interest in renewable energy from the Welsh  farming community in recent months. HSBC’s Agriculture Team in Wales provided  more  than  £5 million for its farming customers during the first half  of  the  year  to  fund wind turbines, hydro schemes and solar energy projects, with a further £1.8 million approved.

John  Griffiths  said:  “We  were  looking  at  ways of boosting the farm’s income,  diversifying the business and helping us reduce costs, so the wind turbine  was  the natural conclusion. We are pleased so far with how it has gone  although it will take a few months before we start to see any benefit from  the  feed-in  tariff.  We  have  been  pleased  with HSBC’s proactive approach  on  this  project;  our relationship manager was keen to help and interested from day one.”

Euryn  Jones,  HSBC’s  Regional  Agriculture  Manager for Wales, added: “The Griffiths family are typical of the many customers we are helping with this kind  of  project  at  present.  At  HSBC  we believe that renewable energy projects  will  have  an  increasingly important part to play in the future success  of  Welsh farming. We have a proven track record in financing such projects  and  look  forward  to  supporting many more farming customers in future.”