Roof · ground · agri-PV
Photovoltaics
New systems and existing roofs, including agri-PV with dual land use.
Use case
Electrification of agricultural businesses
From milking robots to grain drying: I plan the farm’s energy as one system of generation, storage and demand, including existing plants.
Starting point
Many farms already have a PV system, some a CHP unit or biogas plant, often from different decades and not coordinated with each other. At the same time, power demand is rising due to robotics, cooling, ventilation, drying, electric machinery and charging infrastructure. The first PV systems are dropping out of feed-in tariffs, and the grid connection becomes a bottleneck.
What is going electric on the farm
- Milking robots
- Feeding robots
- Manure robots
- Electric yard loaders
- Electric tractors
- Charging infrastructure
- Milk cooling
- Barn ventilation and climate
- Grain and hay drying
- Heat pumps
- Farm shop and cold rooms
Each of these loads has its own profile. I plan them so that they run on own power wherever possible, peaks stay limited and the grid connection is sufficient.
Building blocks I bring together
Self-consumption · peaks
Battery storage
Storage that raises self-consumption, shaves peaks and relieves the grid connection.
Slurry · manure · residues
Biogas and biomethane
Integrating existing biogas plants and using the farm’s own residues as an energy resource.
Power and heat
CHP / cogeneration
Combined heat and power for barns, drying and houses, coordinated with PV and storage.
Complementing PV
Wind and small wind
Assessing site and economics as a complement to solar generation in winter.
Post-tariff · continued operation
Existing plants and repowering
Switching plants that have left the tariff to self-consumption, modernising or replacing them.
How it works
- Survey Load profiles, consumers, existing plants, grid connection.
- Overall concept Which generators, which storage, which energy management, how existing plants are integrated.
- Economics and funding Options, self-consumption, funding programmes and financing.
- Grid connection and electrical design Connection capacity, transformer, cable routes and coordination with the grid operator.
- Delivery and operation Tendering, site supervision, commissioning and monitoring.
From practice
Since 2005 I have planned and built PV systems on farms. In 2017 I developed the cable route planning over approx. four kilometres and the connection concept for two agricultural cooperatives with biogas, PV and self-consumption. From 2020 to 2023 feed-in and self-consumption plants for farms and an agricultural estate followed, many with storage. I know everyday farm life from my own family business.
What you get
- Energy balance and load profile of the farm
- Overall concept with options and economics
- Roadmap for existing plants: continued operation, conversion or repowering
- Coordinated grid connection and electrical concept
Why everything must be planned together
Planning PV, storage, CHP and new loads such as robots or e-tractors separately wastes potential and risks bottlenecks at the grid connection. An overall concept makes optimal use of the existing connection and avoids costly retrofits.