NFU Cymru President Aled Jones approached NFU Energy for advice on how he could best reduce his energy costs. One of our qualified engineers, carried out an Energy Efficiency Audit on Aled's farm, which examined every single use of energy on the farm and produced a detailed written report with recommendations for improvement.

A key finding from the report related to the milk pump: by upgrading the pump to a variable speed drive and allowing the flow rate of milk to be reduced in the system, Aled would benefit from additional, free cooling of the milk prior to it reaching the heat exchanger. The audit found that a 3oC improvement in this cooling would save Aled over £1,300 per year, and save over 1,400kg of CO2 as well!

Despite some significant savings identified through the Energy Efficiency Audit, Aled still wanted to do more to lower his energy costs and impact on the environment. Our Renewable Energy Solutions team identified that there was an opportunity for Aled to benefit from a solar photovoltaic (PV) installation and so we introduced him to one of our specialist accredited installers, Caplor Energy. 

The team at Caplor Energy designed a 120kW solar PV system which made use of existing roof space on the dairy and milking parlour. Consisting of 304 individual solar panels, the system was designed to support general farm operations and specific dairy plant equipment such as the ice bank machine for cooling milk. 

“When I got in contact with Caplor Energy through the NFU Energy Renewable Energy Solutions team, all I wanted really was a seamless, easy process – I’ve got plenty of work on my hands already! I really wanted to work with an efficient business, who delivered on time and didn’t need any chasing up – and that’s exactly what I got with Caplor Energy. Working with them was a beauty.”