Glanbia launches innovative ‘green’ scheme to reduce farm costs
A NEW renewable energy initiative reducing the energy cost of milking, while improving sustainability, has been launched by a renowned Kilkenny business.
Glanbia Ireland, in partnership with SSE Airtricity and Activ8 Solar Energies, has launched FarmGen, a farm generated renewable energy initiative, which will help farmers grow their business sustainably into the future while improving energy efficiency on farms and reducing bills.
The rooftop solar panel system will help power energy-intensive processes on farms, reducing the costs of milk cooling, vacuum pumps and water heating. Combined these three processes account for around 80% of total milk parlour energy consumption.
The solar panels come with a smart monitoring system that monitors energy generation and consumption in real-time; helping farmers understand where and when energy is consumed.
Farms will also have export meters installed that enable them to potentially profit from future incentives to return electricity on to the grid.
Farmers can receive 100% financing for the FarmGen initiative through the existing Glanbia Ireland FundEquip scheme.