A ground-mounted array for a family farm

A family farm uses most of its electricity in summer, for irrigation pumps and the cold store that keeps produce fresh. A strip of pasture next to the yard was too wet for crops but open to the sun all day.

The challenge

The farm sits at the end of a long rural line with limited grid capacity. The owners wanted to keep grazing the land, and the frames had to survive strong winds and the occasional curious animal.

The system we designed

We designed a raised ground-mounted array with enough clearance for sheep to graze underneath. The layout follows the slope of the field, and the export limit was agreed with the network operator before work began.

• 270 bifacial panels, 120 kWp, on galvanised ground frames
• Raised frames with clearance for grazing
• Export limiter agreed with the local network operator
• Dedicated feeds for the pumps, the cold store, and the farmhouse

The result

The array produces 138,000 kWh a year and covers nearly all of the summer load. Irrigation now runs mostly in daylight hours on solar power, and the system is on track to pay back in less than six years.