Solar Panel Fence Powers Farm

Solar Panel Fence Powers Farm ENERGY Solar Irish dairy farmers are putting their north/south fence lines to good use with solar panels on each side The vertical bifacial panels concept was developed by Next2Sun a German company and adapted to Irish farms by Sunstream Energy owner Gene Hourihane Instead of covering an area in panels it harvests the sun By mounting the panels vertically on a specially designed frame the resulting power curve has two energy peaks with a trough at midday Hourihane says that type of solar production is well suited to dairy farms “They have high variations in electric loads especially those batch-milking cows in the morning and evening with those peak loads typically 10 times greater than midday loads ” he explains Hourihane notes that standard solar panels have peak production midday “Yes this energy can be stored in a battery to recycle to heat water for wash down or to build an ice bank for evening milking to chill the milk but this is just shifting the energy use It’s not a perfect match ” he says “Every unit that can be consumed directly is one that doesn’t have to be purchased from a supplier and the farmer doesn’t have to pay for battery storage ” David Foran is one of Hourihane’s agricultural customers He installed a 27-kW system in 2019 with 30 percent covered by a government grant In a testimonial he estimated he recouped his share $21 800 of the cost in less than 2 years Initially he expected a payback in 7 years but higher-than-expected energy costs reduced the payback period dramatically He noted that his system generated 27 5 MWh in 2020 half his total electricity consumption for the year More importantly 74 percent of the energy generated was consumed on the farm While Sunstream works only in Ireland Next2Sun has announced a partnership with iSun a Vermont company The two plan to install a vertical bifacial solar fence with panels up to 6 1/2 ft high on 30-ft spacings on a Vermont vegetable farm early in 2024 In announcing the new venture iSun CEO Jeffrey Peck stated “Thanks to the vertical mounting of the modules and the adaptability of the installation to the needs of the farmer the valuable land is almost completely preserved for agriculture ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Next2Sun Technology GmbH Franz-Meguin-Straße 10A D – 66763 Dillingen/Saar Germany www next2sun com or iSun 400 Ave D Suite 10 Williston Vt 05495 ph 802-658-3378; info@isunenergy com; www isunenergy com

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