320 kW Cheshire dairy farm — combined re-roof and PV

Client: 480-cow family dairy farm Location: Mid Cheshire Vertical: Dairy Parlours System size: 320 kW (590 × JA Solar 540W panels) Annual generation: 294,000 kWh Annual saving: £68,500 Simple payback: 5.2 years

A 480-cow Cheshire dairy farm with three connected livestock buildings totalling 2,800 sqm of pre-1995 asbestos cement roofing. Annual electricity spend before install: £62,000 across robotic milking parlour, bulk tank cooling, parlour washdown, cubicle-housing lighting and ventilation. Family-owned, two-generation transition under way, strong Arla 360 sustainability commitment.

We delivered a combined HSE-licensed asbestos cement removal (2,800 sqm across three roofs in five weeks, including 5 days of containment and decontamination) followed by profiled steel re-cladding and 320 kW of rooftop PV installation across the same building footprint. 590 JA Solar 540W modules on three string inverters integrated with the farm’s existing 800A three-phase supply.

The system achieved 92% self-consumption in its first year of operation thanks to the dairy’s 24/7 robotic-milking and bulk-tank cooling baseload — among the best self-consumption ratios in our farm-building portfolio. The remainder exports under SEG at an average tariff of 11p/kWh. The combined re-roof + PV approach saved an estimated £40,000 in capex versus sequential delivery (single mobilisation, shared scaffolding, single planning consultation, single Asbestos Removal Notification). 100% Annual Investment Allowance applied to the full capex in year one.

The farm was featured in Arla 360’s supplier sustainability case study series for the install, and the second-generation operator has used it as anchor evidence in succession-planning conversations with the farm’s bank and accountants.