David Smith wins M&S Renewable Energy award
Marks & Spencer has announced a new, “Renewable Energy”, prize at its annual Farming for the Future Awards
The inaugural award was presented on Thursday 23rd June 2011 at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh.
The new award, created in conjunction with M&S and its energy partner Greenspan Energy, celebrates Scottish farmers who are going the extra mile to develop a truly sustainable business that ties in with the M&S Plan A initiative.
The winner of the award was David Smith from Skelmonae Windfarm in Aberdeenshire, who had not only installed four wind turbines on his own farm to supply electricity to M&S, but went to great lengths to share best practice by encouraging his peers to follow suit and hosted many visits to his farm to show the turbine process in action.
For the last five years, M&S has partnered with consultancy and development firm Greenspan Energy to support small cluster wind turbines across Scotland.
Through Greenspan, M&S offers a long term purchase agreement which enables farmers to invest in wind energy with a secure return. M&S purchases over 7,000 MWh per month from these suppliers – enough to power 120 Simply Food stores.
Mike Barry, Head of Sustainable Business for M&S, said: “Our partnership with Greenspan has enabled us to link up with local producers across Scotland who were interested in renewable energy, but were perhaps struggling to get it off the ground. We now have 16 energy suppliers in Scotland.
“We are very pleased to present this award to David, whose enthusiasm and willingness to share his experience with his peers has been outstanding.”
Grant Mackie, Director of Greenspan Energy, said: “I am delighted to celebrate the partnership with M&S on this project and pleased to recognise the outstanding efforts by our winner, David.
“Over the last five years, we have successfully made the connection between local farmers and M&S. Renewable energy offers a wonderful diversification opportunity for farmers to grow their business so we look forward to working with more farmers throughout the country as the initiative evolves.
“We are continuing to work with suppliers, both within and outside the current M&S supply base, with half a dozen projects currently in the pipeline and more to come.”