Harvest the green power of solar
Solar & battery solutions for agriculture
Good for the planet. Good for the business.
If your business or factory has a sizeable roof then it makes commercial sense to make the most of its potential to generate solar power. There’s never been a better time to offset your business energy costs as well as contribute to the nation’s quest toward carbon neutrality.
Ground and roof-mounted
While most solar arrays are installed on rooftops, ground mounted solar panels make use of land space for optimal and high-volume generation. The modules need to be attached to some kind of structure, which holds them at the best angle for energy generation, while also keeping them resistant to rain, wind and snow In terms of infrastructure, the array will require trenches for cabling, inverters and spacing between rows of panels to allow for shading.
- Substantially reduce your electricity costs
- Option to install solar panels and link to your own battery
- A business asset with reduced payback and long-term returns
Case study – 20kw solar & 15kw battery installation, Herefordshire dairy farm
HES were asked to help a large dairy farm in Herefordshire. They wanted to protect business energy overheads at a time of ever-increasing energy prices. We conducted a survey and our modeling software assessed the potential generation from solar together with their electricity consumption. We produced recommendations based on a 50 solar panel installation with battery storage, with projects for savings related to their own energy usage and income from selling surplus to the grid.
The savings point towards a payback of just 5 years or so. The project was planned and installation was completed within 2 weeks with no downtime to their day-to-day operations within the farm. The client and HES are monitoring ‘live’ data performance via mobile apps and returns are in line with projections.
The project at a glance
| Overview | Large-scale dairy farm based in Herefordshire looking to control their energy bills. |
| Situation | Roof is predominantly south-facing. |
| Survey & Plan | Current annual consumption is 15,000kW p.a. mainly powering large-scale farm machinery and milking parlour. Plan for 50 solar panels to generate 35,000Kw p.a. Additional 15kW capacity battery storage. |
| Implementation | Panels located on corrugated sheeting on large-scale dutch barn using a low profile on roof mounting system. |
| Ongoing | The client has a smartphone App to monitor and log system performance in real-time. |
| Investment & Payback | Estimated payback 5-6 years (although this may be as low as 2-3 years given expected price increases next year). |
| Planned Maintenance | HES (and customer) monitoring data with alerts to flag up issues. Scheduled annual cleaning of panels plus updates to inverter and app software. |
FAQs
No simple answer and influenced by the size of your business but solar panels are often the first step to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels and produce your own clean energy.
Adding battery storage or energy diverters such as a solar iboost to heat the hot water in your home or buildinga can be great ways of maximising your self-consumption.
All of the estimates we provide use the industry standard MCS Calculator and Projections will be within accurate to a range of 10% plus or minus.
We take the health and safety of our employees and yours extremely seriously. This is shown by our meticulous approach to health and safety throughout the project. Conducting risk assessments and methods statements tailored to each individual project. We only use subcontractors for scaffolding and we continually monitor them to ensure they adhere to our strict standards.
All our installations are supplied with smartphone Apps and online monitoring to access all the information you need at a touch of a button.
Although installations require minimal maintenance we do offer ongoing maintenance packages to our customers to ensure your investment runs to its maximum potential. Read more here.