Off-Grid System Installation in Morpeth, Northumbria

Overview 

Earlier this year we were approached by a farmer that was building three brand new properties on his estate for his farm workers.  

He required power for one four bedroom property and two three bedroom properties, as well as hot water and heating to be provided by an ASHP.

Situation

He had been given a quote from the Distribution Network Operators (DNO) for a grid connection at an eye watering £65,000.  

What’s more, having paid a deposit with the DNO and approaching them for a connection date just as the properties were nearly built – they increased the quote by a further £15,000.

This is not the first time we have seen this. This left the farmer two options – pay the extra or look for alternative solutions. 

Luckily, he found us and we were glad to help.

Solution

We put together a plan to build one large system to power all three properties completely off-grid and turn the landlord into an energy provider in his own right.

We advised that the predicted energy use would require a 30KVA system, 2000Ah 48V battery, 28 KVA Gen set and 25 KW of solar consisting of 60 panels.

That would be a lot of panels to spread across three properties, especially with tree shadow.  

However, we decided to supersize the plant room to allow for storage for farm buggies, and create a roof for the final 10 panels.

We would also fit three electricity metres into the plant room, so that the farmer could individually monitor each property and charge each tenant for their usage, creating a great return on his investment in the system, much more quickly.

Result

If the farmer paid £80,000 to the DNO for a grid connection he would not have been able to recoup that money at any point. Even if he wanted to add solar he would likely be refused such a large amount of solar and battery due to the effects of excess electricity feeding into the grid.

Remember we do not feed into the grid and our systems do not have any restrictions, we can go as big as our clients require.

Unlike with a grid connection cost, our system reaps a return on money spent on getting power to a property.  In this case rather than an energy cost saving, the farmer received a direct income from his tenants electricity usage adding drastically to the properties yields.

We installed the system in May. We received a call in October to say that the generator had run for the first time. This means that all the chargeable electricity the properties had consumed was via the solar and batteries. What a return.

We are experts in off-grid systems small and large, trust us with your power supply and don’t throw money away with a grid connection.

Get in touch with us to find out more about what we can offer.