Thousands of agricultural entrepreneurs have invested in an extra (and sustainable) revenue model in recent years. But one that is much less labour-intensive. In addition to milk, egg, meat, potatoes or flower bulbs, they also earn money from electricity.
The sun shines. Although not as many in the Netherlands as in some other countries, we still know how many hours of sunshine we have annually in the Netherlands. This means that we can calculate quite precisely how much power a solar panel will generate. By the way, 2022 seems to be heading for one record year in terms of number of hours of sunshine.
Solar panels facing south, with an angle of inclination of about 36 degrees, produce the best in the Netherlands. On average, they make the most of the available hours of sunshine.
In some situations it is smarter to opt for a so-called east-west arrangement. Solar panels generate less electricity per piece, but you can often do this in this setup More you lose solar panels per square meter, so you still generate more electricity. In addition, the amount of electricity generated is spread more over the day. And for some companies that fits better with the power consumption.
Choose agricultural specialist
The Netherlands has many suppliers of solar panel installations. In practice it appears that the influence of the installer on the efficiency of the installation is seriously underestimated. As a result, many entrepreneurs opt for a cheaper installation, which sometimes performs 10 to 20% less well than the installation of a more expensive provider.
In this comprehensive article is shown with calculation examples how much income you can miss with an installation of lesser quality. Cause: ignorance or ignorance of the provider or installer. The result: cheap is expensive.
Revenue model
How does the farmer earn money from solar panels? That's easy. Solar panels generate energy for 25 to 30 years. This energy can be used directly in the company. This saves you on electricity costs. A surplus of energy is returned to the grid for a fee, or can be stored in a battery for later use (or for sale at a time when prices are higher).
Agricultural entrepreneurs can also use different options tax benefits and subsidies. With an SDE++ subsidy, they receive an amount per generated kWh for 15 years.
More information
There are useful online tools that can give you a good idea of your situation. Like the Online calculator van Energy Shift from Barneveld. It calculates for free how much an entrepreneur could invest and what it will yield.