Stone Farm & Higher Maxworthy

The Client

Stone Farm is set in the beautiful countryside of Lifton in Devon, with Higher Maxworthy Farm being located in a similarly stunning setting in Launceston, Cornwall. Both owned by Rob Uglow, they are substantial dairy farms.

Late in 2018, IU Energy were asked to design Solar Photovoltaic (PV) arrays for both farms, to be placed on the roofs of two new purpose-built cow sheds, which were replacing the polytunnels which had previously housed the herds.

With two such large areas ideally placed for Solar PV arrays, the potential cost savings in energy were
anticipated to be significant. This case study deals mainly with Stone Farm, but the project for Higher
Maxworthy Farm and the benefits it is gaining are very similar.

The Challenge

Although seemingly straightforward installations for both farms, we were presented with two challenges.

The first being the need to complete the installations well before the ending of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) in March 2019 and the second was installing these substantial arrays in the middle of calving time, when the farms were extremely busy and the possibility of disruption was high.

The Solution

IU Energy installed and commissioned a 39.875kW Solar PV array at Stone Farm and a 39.6kW array at Higher Maxworthy Farm. The Stone Farm installation comprises the following –

• 145 x 275W BYD polycrystalline modules
• 1 x Solis 40kW inverter
• S:Flex Mounting system

The DC cable entry and exits from the building were coordinated to ensure that routes are weather tight and minimise visual intrusion on the building. Cables as part of the system are fully enclosed in suitable containment dedicated for this system. The route runs straight from the roof, fixed along the shed substructure and directly to the inverters. The inverter was then connected to the new shed supply, running back to the original milking parlour.

The project included all commissioning, testing and demonstration of operation of all equipment and system to relevant staff as part of the handover process.

IU Energy also assisted with the application of the Feed in Tariff, (FiT) application forms, to meet the imminent FiT deadline.

The Results

The entire system was delivered on-time, within budget and without drama or disruption during an extremely busy period on both farms.

Stone Farm

• Total Annual Cost Benefit – £6,556.95
• Total Cost Benefit (20 years) – £131,138.90
• System Pay Back (Years) – 5.97
• Projected Return on Investment (annual) – 11.74%

Higher Maxworthy Farm is predicted to yield extremely similar results.