Farmers have three options when it comes to managing the electricity generated from solar panels on their farms, Barry Caslin from Teagasc told the Irish Farmers JournalRenewables Roadshow in Kilkenny.

“There will be certain times during the day when farmers will not be making use of the electricity, that’s a time where you would have to be exporting it back to the grid, storing it in a battery, or heating hot water with it,” Caslin said.

On a summer’s day, electricity will start generating from 4am to 5am and will stop at around 8pm or 9pm, Caslin explained.

The peak month for solar, Caslin added, is May, followed by June, July and August, before it starts tapering off.

“On a typical dairy farm in say the month of June, the demand for electricity will be highest early in the day; in the middle of the day when cows are out grazing and you’re not using a lot of electricity bar for milk cooling – you will have to export the excess back to the grid ,” he said.