Power With Solar Saves Farm Revenue
For Zac Guthrie, owner of G&G Grain in Frazesyburg, Ohio, erecting solar panels on the farm was more about saving money than saving the environment. Six years ago, he worked with Paradise Energy based in Sugar Creek, Ohio, to install solar panels on his property. Guthrie raises more than 3,000 acres of corn and soybeans.
The project’s outcomes were a bit mixed. However, it offered a few insights for other farmers considering a similar move to generating solar energy. It seems like a slam-dunk deal: sign a few papers, invest in the panels and get free energy and another revenue stream.
But Guthrie explained that it’s not that simple.
Pros
Guthrie’s energy costs for the farm are nil, thanks to the panels. He viewed solar energy as a means of cutting costs for powering his farm, including grain drying equipment “and the government was willing to pay for some of it,” he said.
The panels cover the south-facing sides of the roofs of three 80-by-200-foot barns. Keeping them off tillable acres helps keep more land in production. Mounting solar panels on barn roofs also eliminates the headaches of mowing around and under panels. Ground based panels require more maintenance to remove fallen leaves and other debris to keep the panels functioning properly. Providing a barn’s structure suffices, mounting panels on the roof also assures a farmer of adequate sun exposure, since the panels are much higher than ground-based panels.
Overall, Guthrie is pleased with how his farm’s solar project is doing.
“It’s working out how it’s supposed to,” Guthrie said. “There’s no doubt they generate power like they said they would.”
So far, Guthrie has not experienced any difficulties with the mechanics of the panels. He wasn’t sure about the manufacturer warranty on the panels.
“If something happens, we’ll have to worry about them then,” he said.
Cons
The solar panels generate a couple hundred thousand kilowatts, enough to power the farm, but not a lot else. Guthrie said that he had been assured he could sell power to the power company.
“The way the world works today, they make it sound like it’s great to generate power, but the power companies don’t want you to be a net producer,” Guthrie said. “They want to keep it all in-house for themselves.”
His solar panels have not yet yielded sufficient power to create an additional revenue stream for the farm: a disappointment to Guthrie.
Solar panels aren’t cheap, either.
Costs
Paradise Energy Solutions states on its website that “for commercial solar systems, tax incentives and grants can cover 60%-90% of the total cost within the first few years after installation. This means that after applying these incentives, a business can expect to pay between $65,000 and $210,000 for a system ranging from 50 kW to 200 kW.”
The company further estimates that for a farm with a $1,200 electric bill with a 100-kW solar system, the net cost after incentives should be about $16,774 and providing a farm can secure $5,688 in income from selling power, the ROI should be achieved in less than a year.
Guthrie said that government subsidies covered 30% of the cost and that another 30% was covered by tax credits.
“Otherwise, you won’t be able to afford it,” he said. “There’s no argument that the panels generate energy but if it weren’t for government subsidized cost, you’d never get the money out of it in the lifespan of the panel. It’s a USDA grant. You can’t put them on your house with a USDA grant, but you can your barn or in another agricultural space. Certain industries are getting subsidized more than others.”
He advises anyone interested in solar panels to “do your homework as far as the return on investment. If the company doesn’t have it all spelled out, it might work and it might not.”
Industry Growth
According to Statista.com, “owing to reduced deployment costs and government policies aimed at decarbonizing the U.S. energy sector, the solar energy sector in the United States has seen significant growth in recent years. Various actors, from key businesses to state governments, are driving growth in an industry that shows no signs of slowing down.”
The site further states that solar power net generation in the United States from 2000 to 2023 has grown from 43 gigawatt hours to 164,502.
Although Guthrie is pleased that his system does work well, saves him on energy and causes him no headaches, he does wish that it would provide the farm with another revenue stream: a strategy many farmers turn to in times of economic uncertainty. Nonetheless, it appears that solar on farms is here to stay and perhaps will continue to grow as new technologies develop.
