Howard Sinkler

One of the key questions facing farmers and agricultural businesses looking to install renewable energy is whether they should opt for wind power or solar power.

In the case of Manor House Farm in Routh, East Yorks, the question is key because they already have a large wind turbine generating electricity.

Howard Sinkler, a co-owner of the arable farm and free range poultry unit, explains: “We have large poultry sheds and in the summer months we need to power large fans to keep the sheds cool but there isn't much wind which means we don't get to generate as much electricity as we would like. We then have to use power from the grid which is expensive.

"There is, however, lots of sunshine so it made sense to us to install solar PV panels to help cater for this increased demand in summer months when the sun is shining."

He added that the farm is a big supporter of renewable energy but says that the criteria for choosing between solar power and wind power is 'completely different'.

He explained: "For one thing it is difficult to get planning permission for turbines now and solar panels are easier to maintain and have a long life. There are benefits for using either of these renewable energies but for us our solar panel installation has been an excellent investment and has shown a good return. It has also helped that we have had some very sunny days so the panels are doing better than had been predicted."

Manor House Farm turned to Discover Energy who have the experience and expertise to implement a large installation of 1,000 ground-mounted panels which generate 250kwp of electricity for the farm to use - and the excess being fed into the national grid, for which the farm receives a payment.

There's no doubt that the potential benefits to farmers for installing solar PV panels are huge as they get the chance to cut energy bills and create a second income stream.

Howard says: "Discover Energy are a professional company and did an extremely good job. Their predictions for how much would be generated have been proven and I would definitely recommend them to others, especially agricultural businesses."

He also praised the firm for its on-going support and monitoring of the installation which helps to ensure it is running at peak performance.

Martin Bleasby, of Discover Energy, says: "As we monitor the system as part of our on-going client support package, I'm pleased to say that the system at Manor House Farm has overachieved against our predicted levels of performance by 16%. That's around 36,000kwh more than we predicted and it could mean that the installation will generate more than £6,000 extra in revenue every year."

The 1,000 solar panels were installed in 2014 and have worked faultlessly since - and created an income stream as well as providing enough power to help run the poultry unit fans.

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