Installing a water chiller and solar pays off for dairy
A dairy in the Darling Downs region, milking 280 cows, has implemented a photovoltaic (PV) system with load shifting through chilling water management opportunity based on the energy audit report the farm received through the Energy Savers Plus Program Extension. Through the program the business site received a dairy shed energy audit carried out by AgVet Energy and a further assessment carried out by Websters Group followed by an electrical site analysis performed by Solar Energy & Battery Storage Solutions (SEBSS) all engaged by eastAUSmilk.
The goal of the business was to reduce electricity costs by firstly lowering supply from the grid and secondly, with the reduced grid supply, transitioning from the demand tariff to a consumption tariff such as Tariff 20.
Implementing the solar system along with water chilling allows for increased solar utilisation by the business as large portions of the business’ energy use occurs outside of daylight hours with milking. Excess solar energy is used during the day to chill water and then the cold water is used through a plate cooler to reduce the temperature of milk before it reaches the vat offsetting energy use by the refrigeration system.
Monitoring the farm energy use from July to October 2021 an average PV energy utilisation of 67% was achieved.
The total load was 319 kWh/day with an average 210 kWh/day being supplied by the grid. With a grid supply charge of 29.46 c/kWh and a 109 kWh being offset by PV the system conservatively achieves an annual electricity bill saving of more than $11,700.
Additionally, on average 53.92kWh were exported daily at a feed in rate of 6.581 c/kWh the PV system is generating export income of over $1,200.
The total expenditure invested by the business was about $76,000. With over $12,900 in annual savings from reduced grid supply and income generated from solar PV export the calculated payback period of this investment is 5.9 years with a return on investment of 17%.
Implementing the 30kW PV system the grid supply has been under 272 kWh/day. Four consecutive months of this reduced grid supply makes the business eligible for a consumption only Tariff such as T20. This will provide the business further annual savings reducing the payback period and increasing the returning on investment.
Solar Energy & Battery Storage Solutions can provide a comprehensive electrical data analysis for your business, Paul Reynolds on 0414 636 099.
Torie Harrison – eastAUSmilk Project Officer
Breaking down the benefits of solar on farm
A dairy in the Burnett region, milking 160 cows, has implemented a photovoltaic (PV) system and management opportunity based on the energy audit report the farm received through the Energy Savers Plus Program Extension. Through the program the business site received a dairy shed energy audit carried out by AgVet Energy and an electrical site analysis performed by Solar Energy & Battery Storage Solutions (SEBSS) both engaged by eastAUSmilk.
The goal of the business is to reduce electricity costs by implementing a PV System and making maximum use of the energy generated by the system.
Prior to implementation, the main energy use areas: shed, dairy, pump, homestead, and effluent pump were all operating off a separate NMI account, each had a daily service fee and meter charges.
To maximize the benefits of a 30 kW PV system and reduce grid charges three NMIs were merged. Thanks to data provided by SEBSS performance monitoring of the Solar PV system, I was able to evaluate the savings and outcomes achieved from the farms investment.
Monitoring the farm energy use from July to October 2021 the load was 156 kWh/day with an average 90 kWh/day being supplied by the grid. With 66 kWh being supplied by PV the system conservatively achieves a grid annual saving of more than $5,000 in addition to exporting excess PV energy of more than $2,000 annually.
The total dairy load is expected to rise as the business increases irrigation through the summer months. Provided that irrigation occurs during sunlight hours to make the most of the PV output, the savings will be higher.
The PV system is generating average 153 kWh/day or 56 MWh annually. The average daily utilisation of the PV yield is 43% from July to October. With the feed in rate received of 6.583 c/kWh the annual generated income from exported PV energy is around $2,094.
With the increase of solar utilisation expected due to irrigation through summer the income generated through solar export will be reduced; however, this means the total business savings provided by the system will be higher as the export rate of 6.583 c/kWh is far less than the grid supply rate of 22.5 c/kWh. There is potential to achieve a higher PV utilisation through further consolidation of NMIs such as merging the effluent pump into the NMI of the Dairy. The effluent pump has a load of 20 – 30 kWh/day which would increase the utilisation factor to 59%. This would reduce export earnings by $574 but increase grid savings by $2,000.
The total expenditure invested by the business was $46,000. With over $7,000 in annual savings from reduced grid supply and income generated from solar PV export the calculated payback period of this investment is 6.28 years with a return on investment of 15.9%.
Shifting loads to using more PV, when possible, can save the dairy more than $10,000 per year. The Return on Investment will improve to better than 33% with a Pay Back Period of under 3 years.
Solar Energy & Battery Storage Solutions can provide a comprehensive electrical data analysis for your business, Paul Reynolds on 0414 636 099.
Torie Harrison – eastAUSmilk Project Officer
Big attendance at Dairy Resilience Dinners
Well we managed to pull it off. In two weeks eastAUSmilk hosted eight Dairy Resilience Dinners across the flood impacted regions of Queensland.
The meetings were held in Wondai, Kandanga, Maleny, Beaudesert, Plainlands, Allora, Toowoomba and Pinelands.
Another Dairy Resilience Dinner is to be held in Malanda at The Top Rail (Old RSL) on Thursday 21st April.
Please RSVP to 0437 923 398. Jade looks forward to seeing you there!
The events were a huge success with attendance reaching over 160 people. Big thank you to all our farmers who supported the events. I also need to thank the DAF Dairy Team and the eastAUSmilk team for their support made it possible.
When all types, social, sporting, community and industry events were being cancelled due to flooding it made me convinced that Dairy Resilience Dinners were needed now more than ever.
These events have been delivered through the Farm Business Resilience Program which aims to build the strategic management capacity of farmers to prepare for and manage business and climate risks.
Feedback received has been positive with most expressing the dinner was a great opportunity to get off farm for a couple of hours and check in on how our friends are coping. The general sentiment is that we should have more of these events for the dairy industry.
Discussions focused on the flood impacts on farm and the various assistance available for primary producers to assist their businesses with flood recovery as well as touching on the new drought assistance suite.
It was fantastic to have representatives from QRIDA, Rural Aid and the DAF Dairy Team in attendance to support the discussions.
The Farm Business Resilience Program are co-funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Queensland Government’s Drought and Climate Adaptation Program DCAP.
Torie Harrison – Project Manager eastAUSmilk