Martin Davies has lived on his farm nestled in the Shropshire hills all his life and during that time he remembers his father farming the land almost as far as the eye can see. He now lives with wife, Helen, and grown-up sons, Joe and Tom.
Originally dairy, beef and sheep farmers, the Davies family sold off their dairy herd in 2012 due to falling milk prices. They then began looking for an alternative income stream to replace the revenue they’d lost from milk. A trip to an energy show in 2013 led them to think about solar – they were interested in the government guaranteed, index-linked income from the Feed-in Tariff (FIT), which is paid for every unit of electricity produced, and decided to find out more.
The family had heard of the Bowler Group through advertisements in the farming press and decided to make contact. With thirty-five years of experience in the agricultural world, Bowler’s seemed like a natural fit. An Open Day at Bowler Energy’s head office in Derbyshire followed, which included a tour of some local solar PV installations on Bowler-owned farms, and the rest, they say, is history. “It was a very detailed presentation on the Open Day, everything was well explained,” said Martin. The family had decided to opt for a 500kW ground-mounted system, which consisted of 2,000 solar panels and sixteen inverters. It was a big investment, around £520k+, so the Davies’ appreciated the reassurance that Bowler Energy would provide a full, turnkey solution.
The installation commenced in April 2014, and the family praised the ongoing support from Bowler’s, “we had a lot of help from Bowler Energy in getting everything sorted out, and the ongoing support has been very good,” says Martin. The system was installed in one of the family’s fields and, once construction had been completed, they were able to allow their sheep back in to graze underneath the panels which means they don’t lose any pasture.
Do they have any regrets? “Not at all, in fact we are looking at extending the system by adding 200kW of additional PV panels,” said son, Joe. The current 500kW system is expected to generate in the region of 464,500 kWh per year, giving a total annual income of £60,617, which would be a return on investment of 11.65% and a payback period of around 8.6 years. The Davies family have chosen to export all their energy produced, but a site with a high energy requirement could use much of the electricity produced, which would give a greater return on investment and a shorter payback.
Although the panels haven’t been in place for a full 12 months yet, at the end of December they were performing 8.85% better than forecast. With very little input needed from the family, who are delighted with the results, it’s a bit of a change from the old dairy days!
Joe explained the benefits of having a Solar Logger – a device that notifies him immediately by text if there is a problem with the panels or any of the inverters. “It’s brilliant, it tells me straight away if I need to go and check anything. It gives real peace of mind.” Without a Solar Logger, the only way to tell if a solar PV system is performing correctly is to go out into the field and check the generation meter. The Solar Log also keeps a track of the amount of electricity being produced and how much is being earned.
In fact the family are so impressed with how the Bowler Group operates, they’ve also attended an Open Day about the free range egg production side of the business.
