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

Modelled worked example. The figures below are modelled from typical 2026 UK costs, yields and tariffs for this building type and system size — this is an illustrative scenario, not a named client project.

Scenario: 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.

The modelled scope: 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 modelled system reaches 92% self-consumption thanks to the dairy’s 24/7 robotic-milking and bulk-tank cooling baseload — among the best self-consumption ratios seen on UK dairy installs. The remainder exports under SEG, modelled at 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.

For a dairy supplying under Arla 360, an install of this kind strengthens the sustainability scoring — and a modernised energy setup is increasingly used as anchor evidence in succession-planning conversations with banks and accountants.