Victorian dairy co-op says solar a "no-brainer" for farmers – batteries not far behind
A dairy farming co-operative in eastern Victoria has installed a 61kW ground-mounted solar system, and is considering plans to add Tesla battery storage, as it seeks to cut grid power consumption and change the way it thinks about energy.
The Macalister Demonstration Farm, in Riverslea, near Maffra, is a commercial dairy farm focused on using science and demonstration to stimulate the take-up of innovative practices to boost productivity and profitability.
First established in 1960, the co-op’s board had weighed up adding solar almost 10 years ago, but after being approached by a local Gippsland installer earlier this year, they determined the timing and the economics to be right.
“The quality of the technology, the cost of the technology and more importantly, access to finance, these three things have come together beautifully and made this a no brainer,” said MDF Chairman, Neil Baker.
As the MDF 2018 Annual Report notes, the brief to installer Rockys Solar was to design a system that delivered a power bill for the dairy of $0.00, or as close to, while also cutting its carbon footprint.
The upshot was a 61.38kW ground mounted solar system, sited in the old hay-shed paddock, made up of 186 premium Tier 1 Jinko Solar panels and two 27.5kW ABB Inverters.
As you can see in the chart below, the system generates 266kWh/day, while the diary’s average daily consumption is 154kWh/day.
According to the annual report, the co-op’s board opted to generate 112kWh/day of surplus for a number of reasons, including that exports to the grid represented a new income stream for the farm.
“We want to cover the service charges, as well as the cost of buying power,” the report said.
“You can see from the green bar that we are only using a bit less than half of our own generated power – that’s because our demand for power during the day is limited to a little bit of chilling, the afternoon milking and heating hot water if we switch away from night rate.
“The rest of the power we need we will be drawing from the grid in the hours that we are not generating enough to run the dairy.
“There is very little load during the day so most of what we generate goes back to the grid to compensate for our power usage outside daylight hours.
“Of course, we’ll be monitoring and reporting all of this to see that our projections match reality to give you confidence if you choose to make a similar investment.”
The MDF said it has also considered including a Tesla battery system “big enough for us to operated off-grid and overcome issues of power outages,” but would wait a few years, until the costs of doing so had fallen, or the solar system debt was reduced.
“From a demonstration point of view I think that’s important,” Baker told Rockys Solar.
“Batteries will enable a reliability and continuity of supply which is particularly critical in areas that experience frequent interruptions to grid supplied power without the need for massive generators.”
On its own, the solar system has been estimated to have a payback period of around six years – although the Annual Report notes that this time-frame changes “every time with have a rise in tariff.
“Our calculations have been made assuming a Peak Tariff of 22.1c/kWh and Off-Peak at 11.7c/kWh. Since then (construction began in July) power prices have risen by 4 and 2c/kWh respectively, bringing the payback period down even further.”
And Rockys notes that the addition of solar at the co-op has fostered a new way of thinking about how things are done on the farm.
“They are considering a different approach for everything from milking times, to crushing grain, and irrigation methods,” the installer says.
“Tasks that would normally be relegated to off-peak times can now be done during the day when free power is available which also saves on labour costs.
“Being able to run sprinklers at no cost during the day when visibility is also high is a great advantage.”
The co-op also believes the ability to expand the solar system in the future will allow for an increase spray irrigation and other practices the MDF board hadn’t considered economically viable in the past.
“Adding extra spray irrigation would enable us to grow so much more grass, which is money in the bank,” Baker said.
“When we change the way we think about the cost of power, we can see opportunities.”
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Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
Whoever installed this system should be ashamed. Too many rip-off artist solar companies who simply don’t care. Who is going to break the news to this farmer that Jinko will void his warranties, not that Jinko warranties are worth the paper they are written on anyway. (Tier 1 by the way has nothing to do with the quality of the panels, its a financial rating offer by Bloomberg, but shifty solar salesmen will say it refers to quality).
This is a DAIRY FARM… Dairy farms means lots of cows. Lots of cows means lots and lots of AMMONIA. And lots of ammonia means corrosion and deterioration of the solar panels. As a solar installer myself, I happen to know for a fact that Jinko, and just about every other brand of panel coming out of China, will void their warranties if installed within 1km of any dairy farm, or major agricultural area using ammonia laden fertilisers.
The only 2 brands I know that have explicitly told us that they’ll warrant their panels in such high ammonia areas, is LG, and Q.CELLS, but of course, these are Rolls Royce panels compared to the Datsun of Jinko, and the LG panels are especially good.
This poor farmer is going to learn that you get what you pay for. I’d expect his panels to have lost at least 25% of their efficiency with 5 years… And he’ll never be able to make a warranty claim because the ignorant or dodgy installer never warned him about the ammonia issue.
Hi Daniel spot on analysis…done cheap and cut corners..its a rocky road.
I was curious about this so I googled Jinko’s Warranty & Installation docs. What you claim doesn’t seem to be there.
Daniel
The Jinko panel is 1 of only 2 panels tested by the CSIRO in NSW in 2017 over 12 months to finish in the excellent bracket. The other panel was the LG Neon, which is a very good panel also. Per watt, the Jinko panel has by far the best return on investment. The Jinko panel is one of the most widely used panels worldwide!
Regarding Ammonia testing.
The Jinko panel is certified by TUV NORD High Salt Mist & Ammonia Resistant.
Your statement ‘Í’d expect his panels to have lost at least 25% of their efficiency within 5 years… And he’ll never be able to make a warranty claim.’’ I have forwarded to Jinko Solar Australia for an official response.
The ave daylight solar exposure from BOM RAAF Base East Sale based on 15 years of data is 4.6 hours, but we are conservative in our estimate. This is not a “prediction” but a fact. So, again, you are providing information that is incorrect & misleading to your customers.
The inverters are installed as per the specified requirements. Furthermore, the roof is getting insulated and having a duct installed above each inverter to increase efficiency.
Rockys Electrical ARE a local company of 40 years & pride ourselves on our reputation, and also our ethical behaviour towards our customers & others in the solar business.
Hi Alan,
I hope you are right and Jinko have changed their policy, because last time I asked them to provide me written proof that they would honour their warranties for panels installed in an area highly exposed to ammonia, they would not. For that matter, I have even seen Jinko void their warranties with panels installed within 500m of the coast, due to salt mist.
I spoke to Q.CELLS, and it was like pushing a rock up hill but I finally got a document from them (half written in Korean mind you) to specify they would honour the warranties if installed on a dairy farm. LG was precise and immediate with their response, 100% warranty protection for both dairy farms, and if installed right on a beach as well.
I spoke to ABB and Fronius, no warranties if inverters are exposed to any amonia dust. Only SolarEdge was fully warranted.
So, if Jinko has changed their policy in the last 2 years, I’d love to see it in writing.
Rocky Solar who installed this system needs to get a little education. Who is going to break the news to this farmer that Jinko will void his warranties, not that Jinko warranties are worth the paper they are written on anyway. (Tier 1 by the way has nothing to do with the quality of the panels, its a financial rating offer by Bloomberg, but some less than educated solar salesmen out there will say it refers to quality).
This is a DAIRY FARM… Dairy farms means lots of cows. Lots of cows means lots and lots of AMMONIA. And lots of ammonia means corrosion and deterioration of the solar panels. As a solar installer myself, I happen to know for a fact that Jinko, and just about every other brand of panel coming out of China, will void their warranties if they know the panels were installed within 1km of any dairy farm, or any other major agricultural area using ammonia laden fertilisers.
The only 2 brands I know that have explicitly told us that they’ll warrant their panels in such high ammonia areas, is LG, and Q.CELLS, but of course, these are Rolls Royce panels compared to the Datsun of Jinko, and the LG panels are especially good.
This poor farmer is going to learn that you get what you pay for, should have gone for a better quality panel. I’d expect his panels to have lost at least 25% of their efficiency with 5 years… And he’ll never be able to make a warranty claim because the installer never warned him about the ammonia issue, or didn’t know, and I don’t know which is worse.
So this dairy heats water with resistive-electricity?
Some renewable-heat-harvesting heat pumps could be in order.
They work day and night, harvesting solar energy that the sun stores in our air.
https://renew.org.au/renew-magazine/heating/beyond-solar-pv-renewable-heat-and-why-we-need-it/
Can they get to 90c? E.T. can!