Discover Energy already knew that the system had been working above its predicted performance from the comprehensive and bespoke monitoring that they have. However,
the company wanted to know what Howard thought of the investment one year on.
Howard Sinkler, co-owner of Manor House Farm, an arable farm and free range poultry unit in Routh explained: "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. We already had a large wind turbine generating electricity and
solar was the perfect addition to this. In the summer months, we needed to power large fans in order to keep the sheds cool but, the reduction in wind meant we didn’t
generate as much electricity as we would have liked and therefore had 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 compliment the wind turbine and help cater for this increased demand in the 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 great 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.
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."