Farmers hope solar panel collective will cut energy bills in half

Bulk purchase of solar panels for milking parlours could save group over €500,000

Denis 'Dinny' Galvin said the farmers' bulk purchase of solar panels for their milking parlours could save the group over €500,000 on their energy bills. Picture: Neil Michael

A farmer, determined to drive down his energy bills, has started a movement which has seen 65 dairy farmers on the Dingle peninsula group together to buy solar panels and cut their energy bills in half.

Denis 'Dinny' Galvin said the farmers' bulk purchase of solar panels for their milking parlours could save the group over €500,000 on their energy bills.

The farmers currently pay an average of €10,000-a-year on energy but, by switching to solar, they hope to slash these bills by 50%, while buying as a collective means they will save on the cost of the panels and installation.

"We have been told to expect not only savings of around 50% on our bills but also we expect to be able to pay off the panels in around two or three years," Mr Galvin said.

"At the moment around 65 farmers are signed up but there are likely to be more," with Mr Galvin saying another 40 farmers are “thinking about it”.

"You are looking at savings collectively of between around €325,000 and €530,000." 

Mr Galvin says thanks to the success of the initiative, around 100 hotels and guest houses in the Dingle area are now also grouping together to block purchase solar panels for their businesses.

Representatives from environmental consultancy Dcsix and solar panel provider Beo were meeting the farmers at the Udaras na Gaeltachta offices in Dingle to discuss the next steps.

Mr Galvin established the West Kerry Dairy Farmers Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) in 2019, and with the help of fellow board members on the Kerry co-op and contacts he made as an artificial inseminator, he persuaded 106 of the approximately 110 dairy farmers on the Dingle penisuala to join the SEC.

Environmental efficiency consultancy firm Dcsix helped the farmers choose the right technologies to suit their farms, and helped handle a tender process to find a contractor to provide the solar panels.

Solar Beo

Dingle-based solar panel firm Solar Beo won the contract to provide and instal the panels.

Dcsix managing director Jonathan Sandham said: “I think this is the first initiative of its kind and I know of no other sector that has got together to do this.

“It gives them great buying power and means they will be paying much less for their panels than if they went off to have them installed on their own. 

"I can’t give you figures but a bulk purchase has to mean everyone paying less.”

Mr Galvin said: “This is a dream coming true for me personally but also for the members of the steering committee that are behind this."

Mr Sandham said: “Because of this scheme, word is spreading and around 100 people involved in hospitality have set up their own SEC and they are going to do what Dinny and his colleagues are doing.