Agricultural
Pioneering adopters of solar PV, the agriculture business has been a major client of Ivy Solar since the beginning of the Feed-in Tariff. We have worked with British farmers for a number of years, providing a wide range of solar PV solutions. From the modest small holder to large commercial farming operations, bespoke Ivy Solar systems are always a perfect fit for your needs.
As with all our services, an efficient and diligent approach is always provided, with special care given to sensitive sites such as those operating strict biological controls. Ivy Solar is proud to be a trusted service provider for the AF Group. We’ve worked closely with the cooperative for over 8 years, helping its members invest confidently in solar PV. Recently, we had the privilege of installing solar PV onto the AF Group’s head office, providing the operation with cost-effective, low carbon energy.
Case Studies
The AF Group
The AF Group approached us with the task of assessing the financial feasibility of a 49.5kW solar PV system for their headquarter offices. As half-hourly data was available, we modeled the hourly performance of the proposed system at their offices. The results of our model were compared to the half-hourly consumption data from the site, giving us a confident insight into how much generated solar PV electricity would be directly consumed on site. Our analysis suggested that an estimated 89% of all generation from the solar PV system would be consumed on-site by the organisation: a strong financial case for investing in one of our systems.
Using our analysis and experience to select equipment that would best fit our client’s needs, we decided on 174 Q Cell Q Plus-G4.1 275W panels, along with a single SMA Core 1 inverter, to deliver the 49.5kW system. Products from both manufacturers were chosen due to their strong records of quality and reliability. Off-site monitoring of the system was made available by connecting the inverter to the local network within the AF Group’s offices; SMA’s free monitoring platform Sunny Portal allows for both Ivy Solar and the client to confidently monitor the system remotely.
Mark Means – J S Means Ltd
Ivy Solar has been working with Mark Means of J S Means Ltd for over 10 years. Over the years Ivy Solar has assisted J S Means Ltd on Solar PV, Wind and Battery Storage projects. The most recent system delivered by Ivy Solar being a 61kW Solar PV array which was designed to supply a cold store. Along with the Solar PV Ivy Solar installed a bi-directional smart meter to allow J S Means Ltd to observe how their operation was using electricity from the new array.
Along with assisting in the design, prelim and installation of renewable systems for the operation Ivy Solar has also kept existing Solar PV assets running at optimum efficiency over the years through testing, repairs and where necessary component replacement.
Ivy Solar hopes to keep its relationship moving forward with J S Means Ltd well into the future helping in the feasibility of new potential renewable opportunities for the operation.
Nigel Joice - Uphouse Farm Limited
Ivy Solar’s working relationship with Uphouse Farm Limited began in 2018 when Ivy Solar was involved in a repair project on one of the operations Solar PV systems. From this point onwards Ivy Solar provided on going support for all of the operations Solar PV assets, provided testing, repairs and where necessary component replacement.
In 2019 Ivy Solar designed and installed a 99kW Solar PV array for a new grain store building.
More recently Uphouse Farm Limited approached Ivy Solar to investigate the financial feasibility of incorporating battery storage for the operation to better improve the business’ resilience to fluctuating electricity costs. In order to obtain the necessary robust data to understand the business case for battery storage, Ivy Solar installed a Solar-Log monitoring suite for each of the sites Solar PV systems. Not only does the Solar Log system provide constant data on the health of the Solar PV hardware but with the incorporation of bi directional smart meters the system is able to simulate the performance of a chosen battery. This data collection will run for 1 year in order to get a full understanding of the feasibility of integrating battery storage into the operation.
PX Farms
Working alongside The AF Group Ivy Solar designed and delivered a 249kW ground mounted Solar PV for PX Farms. The system was installed to deliver electricity to the operations intensive grain processing operation. The 249kW array was an extension to 100kW of existing Solar PV generation. Feedback from UK Power confirmed that an export cap of 200kW must be always maintained at site. To resolve this Ivy Solar installed a fully compliant G100 Energy Management System which controls the output from the new 249kW array while ensuring no reduction in performance from the historic 100kW system which benefits from the Feed in Tariff.
Along with the installation of the Solar PV Ivy Solar also installed a Solar-Log monitoring system which provides PX Farms with a constant update on the health and performance of their solar PV assets. Also include was a bi directional smart meter which gives PX Farms visual insight into how their operation is using electricity, both from the Solar PV and the local grid. It is hoped that this information will help the operation optimise areas of the grain processing to maximise the utilisation of their solar PV assets.
Finally with the Solar-Log platform Ivy Solar is modelling a virtual battery in order to help PX Farms understand the feasibility of energy storage for their operation.