Dairy farm invests in solar PV

Challenge: Design and install a solar PV system to power a dairy farm in Dorset.

Solution: A 49.97kWp solar PV system made up of 208 polycrystalline 240W panels connected to 11 inverters.

Output: 47,023 kWh per year.

At a FiT rate of 32.9p/kWh, this system will generate £14,000 in the first year and £470,000 over a 25 year period.

At a FiT rate of 32.9p/kWh, this system will generate £14,000 in the first year and £470,000 over a 25 year period.

Holly Farm, Dorset

Holly Farm in Dorset is looking for ways to not only become greener and work towards offsetting its carbon footprint, but to also become more economic and money smart. They chose Freesource Energy to design and install a solar PV system that would meet all their needs. 

Farmers have a constant battle with fuel consumption that no one in the general public is fully aware of, in fact it is widely taken for granted.

In order to provide us with milk and dairy products, dairy farmers need to use a lot of electricity and hot water in order to keep their farm running efficiently and with the rising energy bill prices this is becoming more expensive than ever.

The dairy farm in Dorchester wanted to install a solar PV system so they could generate their own electricity while offsetting their carbon footprint and make vast savings on their electric bills. This way, the farm could continue to run effectively without having to make major changes to save money

Farmer, Max Frampton, had been looking at renewable technologies to power Holly Farm for some time and decided and take his first steps into renewables when choosing Freesource Energy to design and install a solar PV system.  

Ideally placed

During the survey conducted by Freesource Energy, the surveyors noticed that some of the older buildings contained asbestos which meant they wouldn’t be suitable for a standard PV installation, but Freesource would be able to offer a complete roof solar PV installation to replace these asbestos roofs as one of the suggested solutions for Max. 

The surveyor also identified an ideal roof for a large solar PV system that would generate enough power to benefit the farm without huge installations costs. The roof space was on a shed roof that had only recently been built.

Plenty of choice

After the technical survey, Freesource’s team on in-house designers presented several options to Max. He had the option to replace the asbestos roof with a complete system, or standard large-scale system on a newer roof.

After consultations and advice from Freesource Energy, Max made the personal decision that he would like the system on the newer roof.

The orientation of the newer roof was south-facing with no threat of shading to decrease the performance of the system. This means that the system will give a high yield and therefore increase the energy generated and Max’s savings. 

Future Plans 

Max intends to install several new milk chillers in the near future. These chillers are particularly active in the summer months and would increase the electric bill by a vast amount. Instead, the summer will be the time that the PV system will be generating at its peak and Max will now be able to see an even larger saving on his potential fuel bills.

The new installation of 208 polycrystalline 240W panels was to be designed by Freesource Energy with a view of maximizing the space. The system was designed in order to give Max plenty of scope to increase his solar PV installation in the future or indeed install a solar thermal system which can be used to help reduce his hot water costs.

Meeting your needs

As well as the obvious criteria for Freesource Energy to think about, they also took careful consideration when it came to respecting the bespoke needs of the farmer and the animals.

During the installation. the Freesource team were careful to ensure they didn’t disturb any farming activity or in cause any distress to the animals.

FiT for a farmer 

The government subsidy known as the feed-in-tariff (FiT) offers a ROI of around 15%. 

In the first year, this site will generate around £14,000 from FiT payments and save in the region of £3200 in fuel bills, which gives a net year 1 profit of £17320. 

The FiT is index-linked and last for 25 years.  Over this period, the system would generate £470,000 in FiT payments and help the dairy farm save around £140,000. 

New roofing solutions

In order to deal with large systems where the roof may contain asbestos, Freesource Energy can now offer a complete roof PV system which is supplied by Suntech. 

The ‘JustRoof’ system enables us to be able to remove the unsuitable roof and replace an entire roof with Suntech solar panels.

Freesource Energy

Interested in solar PV for your home or business? Get in touch with Freesource Energy today. Our experts will explain exactly what your options are – and how you and your business could benefit from the feed-in tariff. Call us on 0800 1313 161 to arrange a consultation.