Infinite Energy, a Commercial Solar PV specialist has recently completed one of the largest roof mounted agricultural solar PV installations in the UK for Rand Brothers who have a large farm in Hertfordshire with over 9000 acres in arable production as well as an extensive grain depot which is used as a storage and drying centre.
In addition to this, Rand Brothers have five huge grain drying sheds which are used by local farmers and grain merchants.
The vast barns can hold up to 120,000 tonnes of grain at any one time and have a huge electricity demand from the grain dryers and elevators all year round.
Rising electricity prices were adding thousands of pounds to the farm’s annual electricity bill and it was a struggle to get enough electricity down the line to power the grain dryers and elevators which meant that some had to be run on diesel generators further adding to the cost of power.
For this reason, the Rand Brothers decided to put their 4 acres of roof space to good use with a solar panel installation. Solar was the best option as peak demand and peak supply from the panels are closely aligned through the summer.
Infinite Energy was highly recommended by F Craven & Sons, another farmer in Lincolnshire who had a 175kWp solar energy system installed in 2012 by Infinite Energy.
Their system was installed on-time and within budget and to a very high standard. Similarly Rand Brothers wanted to install the system before the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC’s) were cut by the government from 2 to 1.7 so they decided to go with Infinite Energy to ensure a high quality installation before the crucial deadline.
Infinite Energy installed 526kWp of solar panels using 250w Axitec panels, K2 Speed Rail and Fronius Central Inverters which will produce nearly 470,000kWh of energy per annum, an annual saving of over £30,000 on electricity bills and in addition, carbon emissions will be cut on an annual basis by a staggering 234 tonnes of CO2.
The installation was spread over several south facing and east/west facing roofs. Although using east/west facing roofs meant a lower peak power output, the benefit was that peak power would be generated over a longer period during the day, as the east facing roofs picked up the morning sun and the west facing panels picked up the evening sun, meaning a more usable production curve to maintain the electricity supply to the grain stores.
Rob Rand comments: "We were very impressed with Infinite Energy’s solar panel installation and we are already reaping the benefit with cost savings on our electricity consumption and now have more power on site which means we no longer have to use the diesel generators. In addition, we can generate an additional steady annual income from the ROC subsidies for the next 20-years.
Sam Tilley, Managing Director of Infinite Energy concludes: "There has been a definite increase in the number of agricultural enquiries we have had but it does make sense for farmers to utilise the land and roof space that they have to help generate electricity to run their farms and have the added bonus of an additional income. And with the cost of large systems falling through drops in panel, inverter and mounting system prices, the ROI can be 16% - 24% and payback under 5-years, a better return than just about every other investment."
