Electricity Onto Remote Farm

mikefoxo

Hi all,

Would like to get electricity onto the farm sometime, make life easier. It's a bit out of the way, only accessed by right of way about 500yds long. Lots of turns and mature trees. Any alternatives to mains? Wind turbine? We have a stream too near the yard but probably not big enough for water turbine, plus Dept. would probably say no:P

djmc

It depends what you need electricity for I have a out farm with no electricity and my plan is.
Spring well gravity flow through ducting to ibc tank to feed water troughs and tap at lower end of farm could use pasture pump if water needed above well.
Solar battery electric fence.
Solar led lights in time if needed.
Have a diesel generator for anything else.
Cattle can survive fine without electricity unless you're going dairying .
I don't think wind turbines would be great the good ones would be around 40k and feed the grid
The smaller ones plus inverter and battery's would need maintenance and cost a few thousand to set up and could cost more than they are worth to keep running.
There are solar water pumps too but I'm not too well up on how good they are.
If setting up a battery bank for a pv solar panel or small turbine use deep cycle battery's.

DirtyDiesels

Any idea whats the max distance a pasture pump will work at?

djmc

http://www.odonovaneng.ie/cattle/cattle-drinkers/

229 ft distance or 23 ft height according to link.

Could also be possible to set up fence for cattle to walk to water eg. Water trough in the middle of 4 fields or on roadway

limerick farmer

saw an ad on the farmers journal classifieds online for a solar powered pump.don"t know how reliable or expensive this system is but may be worth a look.

mikefoxo

I was thinking of going dairying alright, but that's way off in the future. I'm just looking at all the obstacles that need to be overcome first

mikefoxo

djmc, I only just noticed you mentioned you have a diesel generator. Would you care to elaborate as to what you use it for, what hp it is, what kind of output it has and fuel consumption? Thank you

djmc

I brought it some years back off some traveling sales men its a rip off fake honda but thankfully it still working .
I think it's around 5kw and have used it for welding power tools and ran the whole dwelling house after the big storm last year in February
It could be used for a cement mixer or anything else you need power for.
It's light enough on diesel a few litres would run it for the day

mikefoxo

^ Thanks, it's certainly food for thought.

gctest50

water is nice for a small bit of power - it'd be making it 24/7

random bits n pieces:


http://www.microhydropower.com/

In the low-head hydro unit, water is diverted from a stream and channeled through an open-top, elevated waterway that delivers water to the turbine. A pipe called a draft tube is installed below the turbine.
The draft tube sucks water through the propeller, which in turn spins the alternator.
This particular turbine design can generate electricity at sites with as little as 5 feet of head so long as a sufficient flow rate is available

http://www.homepower.com/articles/microhydro-power/project-profiles/low-head-microhydro-thai-style

http://www.palangthai.org/