Solar panels

farisfat

Ive started looking into solar.Any advice on solar and battery storage would be great....I've zero knowledge of solar.

70 cow dairy farm electric water heater and looking into a ev car.

Grueller

Starting to think the same here and in the same boat with lack of knowledge. Will be watching this thread with interest.

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058363309/solar-panels

Have started looking too. For anyone milking they are a no brainer. If you’ve the house at the yard it’s even more so a no brainer. A 60% grant and accelerated capital allowance.

K.G.

I would have concerns about the network handling all this micro generation.i m led to believe its creaking as it is.my take is try minimise sales to national grid and look at all possible on farm usage storage options other than batteries.

cjpm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122475305#Comment_122475305

You are correct it is creaking at peak. However the more micro generation the better as it reduces peak demand if people have some battery storage.

2smiggy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122475305#Comment_122475305

have them at work, 20kw of panels, and 15kw of batteries. Would have yielded 2.17mwh, consumed 1.37mwh and exported 800 kwh.

Was thinking of putting them up at home too. my father is still in charge !! It would be my luck to convince him to put them up and the arse fall out of the export. To be honest the vast majority would be exported as not milking anymore

Castlekeeper

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dohc turbo2

Not milking here, but I've two systems bought in last 12 months very happy with them, the thing is the maximum the use of what I produced,

Guys the best place to ask is the Irish solar owners group on FB. Many of the people on the renewables forum are there as well

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481275#Comment_122481275

Getting the tams application ready at the minute. Don’t milk here either and bills reasonably low. So wondering is it worth my while for the farm.

fulldnod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481615#Comment_122481615

What does that involve?

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481850#Comment_122481850

the tams? All the usual bull. Maps of yard, agitation points bills etc. but a 60% grant at the end of it.

Sheep breeder

Just back from holiday in France and have seen a big increase on farms since last year, with new sheds going up and panels on the roof. One farm we were on is putting up two new sheds for hay and straw storage ( has a tunnel type storage coming to the end of life) and was telling us it will pay well over 10 year period and was very happy with the share system of payment.

Castlekeeper

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Hard Knocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122482085#Comment_122482085

They must be getting a much better rate than here

con747

@graememk you might be of use to these posters.

graememk

Id say to get quotes, for both tams and seai (if yard is attached to the house)

But if you use any decent amount of power solar has a fast pay back.

(And don't worry about the grid, that's ESBN problem not us as individuals)

KingPanko

Start by gathering all your bills and understanding your usage of power and think about what part of the day your using it. If milking morning and evening then batteries likely make sense. Even if you are not using much power solar might still make sense, just a smaller system

Get a few quotes

Apply for TAMS, 60% is great in fairness and if you size it correctly will give a good payback. Be aware it will likely take at least 6 months to get approval. Apply soon and you'll be up and running for next summer.

Water John

House not on the farm but simple experience is export to grid 24c, Energia day rate 33/35c, night rate less than 15 cent.

Charging EVs at night.

There is a peak rate between 5 and 7 pm so on a farm, batteries to run evening milking would make sense. Night rate can be used for morning milking. Hope that helps. Don't think I'd borrow money to do it unless the interest rate was low.

3% loan rate now available for house.

Water John

BTW three phase projects like Darragh McCullogh, haven't yet been connected to the grid. Pity his supplier and installer didn't let him know beforehand.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122482783#Comment_122482783

H mm I know of an early small scale generator who ended up giving 20 thousand euros of power to the grid for free because it wasn't set up to take it and pay for it.so I wouldn't rule out anything if there's problems

Water John

ESB simply haven't yet issued the relevant documents and specs for 3 phase connection of solar panels. Solar and EV battery storage will help by generation distribution. An EV car simply takes the same load as an electric shower. Solar panels will certainly suit dairy farmers with their electricity load allowing them greater generating and export capacity to be grant aided.

Ian OB

This article could also be of interest in this forum.

https://www.juancole.com/2024/07/farmers-panels-generate.html

graememk

Too much sun is a very rare complaint in Ireland 😂

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122485101#Comment_122485101

Grid still took it without issue. There was no feed in tariff until Feb of 2023.

Currently anyone on a three phase meter get a deemed[estimated] Feed in tariff based on the MEC and a few other factors. It's on the cru website somewhere, I've the formula on a spreadsheet somewhere. Three phase smart meters are coming next year.

FIT came in at the start of 2023. Anyone on single phase now get a measured export via a smart meter.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122485609#Comment_122485609

They have? There's loads of three phase inverters out there, any big solar array you see would be 3 phase.

Quick Google shows Darragh MC collough has solar in from before 2022? Don't follow him so don't know the story. Possibly some hiccup with the NC7.

Kildare787

Hi all, I have a query on a battery if anyone can advise. I have a 10kwh battery with my system. At the moment it's full at 10pm. By the time the energia EV rate kicks in at 2am until 6am we will probably have about 7kwh left. I thought I would be able to sell the excess back each night at 24 cent per unit to energia before and I recharge the battery at 7.5 cent on the super low rate

Someone suggested not doing that as it may affect the battery health which may mean it wouldn't be worth it to do. Seems like an waste to me not to do it as I'm getting 24 cent to sell it and only paying 7.5 cent to buy it back during the night. So still up 16.5 cent per kWh exported by doing it. Am I missing something here? Would really appreciate any advice. Thank you.

One other small question. I have the zappi set to charge at 2am to 6am also, three nights a week which will meet my needs. I have the zappi set to eco plus. Just wondering how I stop the car charging in the morning. When there is an excess of 1.4kwh on the solar generation it kicks in. We really don't need it. Would rather keep the excess to run the house during the day. Is there a way to make the zappi not kick in if it's still plugged in the next morning? Thanks very much for advice.

graememk

Make that battery make it's living. I wouldn't worry about adding extra cycles too it, it's still only about 1 cycle a day and they are rated for 4000 odd, and when it reaches that it's only 80% capacity

pureza

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496476#Comment_122496476

How do you propose selling and buying at the same time ? Surely solar/battery takes precedence untill it runs out ?

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122496476#Comment_122496476

Do you mind me asking what did the 10 kv battery cost?