Barry Bambury, DCSix Technologies; Ruth Buggie, SEAI; Dinny Galvin; Mary Buckley, Kerry Agribusiness; and Aodán Ó Conaill, Dingle Hub. Picture: Mossy Donegan
The West Kerry Dairy Farmers Sustainable Energy Community has launched the findings from its energy master plan.
The group had commissioned the plan to calculate their existing energy practices and from this analysis, identify ways to become more energy efficient.
At a general meeting held in Dingle recently, the group heard that in 2019, this farming community used over 10,000 MWh of energy — generating 2,900 tonnes of CO2 — and costing circa €1m.
It was advised that technology such as solar PV panels will reduce these farmers’ energy costs, where the meter between the dairy parlour and the domestic dwelling is shared.
The group of farmers also heard how heat recovery systems used in a dairy parlour could lead to more than a halving of the energy required for heating water, leading to potential savings of over €800 per annum.
Meanwhile, farmers were also told that retrofitting farm dwelling houses to B2 could reduce energy usage by 1,400 MWh and 360 tonnes of CO2.
These findings were presented to the assembly by representatives from DCSix Technologies, the consultancy company contracted to undertake the group’s energy master plan.
This report now acts as a baseline for the overall energy demand of the sustainable energy community, and also contains a roadmap for the sector to become more energy efficient, in cost-effective and practical ways.
This group of Corca Dhuibhne farmers is the first Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland sustainable energy community in Ireland dedicated to a particular sector.
The next step on the roadmap for these farmers is holding over 100 individual surveys of every farm in the membership.
The purpose of this is to understand each dairy farm’s unique aspects and quantify their actual energy use to decide which climate action activities are best suited to becoming more energy efficient.
Chairman of the West Kerry Dairy Farmers Sustainable Energy Community, Dinny Galvin, told the Irish Examiner that the experience was “very educational”.
“All the electricity was monitored, and I have an app on my phone I can see exactly what it’s costing me to milk the cows, cool the milk, heat the water,” he said.
Mr Galvin said that one of the most startling findings from their energy master plan was how much the farmers had spent on agri-diesel in 2019.
Agricultural diesel was found to be the “single biggest energy consumer” at 52%, and costing circa €750,000, Mr Galvin said.
If biomethane could be substituted for diesel, there is a “substantial market opportunity” that has been identified.
“That was from 100 farmers, not any silage contractor, that was a startling figure; now that’s two years ago, you could nearly double that cost now,” Mr Galvin added.
The Dingle Hub has previously carried out a feasibility study on anaerobic digestion, with Mr Galvin noting that there would be “great benefits; we could make a biogas, which would be a great help”.
Barry Caslin, Teagasc’s energy and rural development specialist who spoke at the event about support and information available to farming communities, told the Irish Examiner that soaring energy prices, government incentives, and a growing awareness of the impact of climate change are all factors that “have motivated many farmers to consider generating renewable energy on their farm as well as evaluating where energy efficiency savings can be made”.
“The Microgeneration Support Scheme which will allow businesses including farmers to generate their own electricity from solar or wind and export the excess energy to the grid is generating a lot of interest in solar PV especially,” Mr Caslin said.
“The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat has greatly reduced the payback period for biomass boiler installations which make a lot of sense, especially on pig and poultry units to generate renewable heat independent of fossil fuels.”
Mr Caslin said that the sharp rises in both gas and electricity prices may be unwelcome for the majority, “but for those generating renewable energy, it is shortening the payback of on-farm renewable technologies and it has increased potential returns from electricity sales”.
“There is no doubt about it that land is a non-negotiable requirement for renewable energy schemes, which puts many farmers in an enviable position whether its major wind, solar or biomass projects,” he continued.
Due to the massive increase in energy costs, it is energy savings which are really the driving factor for most on-farm renewable projects.
“The technologies which are creating the greatest interest are mainly solar PV panels, biomass heating, wind, anaerobic digestion, ground-source heat pumps, and energy crops.
“Farmers who decide to pursue energy projects should seek independent advice to verify the likely energy yields, costs and the technical and economic viability of the technology rather than rely on the information supplied by the equipment manufacturers or distribution agents.”
Undertaking an energy audit will help to identify the various energy use on a farm, and will highlight potential opportunities to reduce energy bills as well as improve the business’s carbon footprint.
“The first step in reducing energy use is to measure the current energy usage levels. From this you set a baseline,” Mr Caslin said.
“You can measure this by taking meter readings or by installing monitoring equipment to determine where the energy is actually being consumed by various pieces of equipment such as the bulk cooling tank, water heating, vacuum pumps during milking, water well pumps, lighting, and tractor use, etc.”
The West Kerry Sustainable Energy Community have done this type of monitoring in order to generate their master plan.
“They can now benchmark their individual energy use against other similar farms to highlight where improvements can be made.”
Mr Caslin said that there can be “great differences” in energy use between the farm — “which can be up to 30% or more with comparable businesses”.
“The greatest savings with on-farm energy use will come from changes to farming systems and practices,” he said.
“The knowledge from an audit and indeed from the master plan is vital in terms of being able to exploit these potential savings.”
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