Brothers Johan and Willem Loonen invested in solar panels and energy storage. Together they have a dairy farm in the south of our country.
"When my parents started dairy farming in 1978, no one could have foreseen that in addition to being a milkman, you could also be an energy farmer," says Johan Loonen enthusiastically. He and his brother invested heavily in generating and storing energy and are now reaping the benefits.
They started by building a mono-manure digester, which supplies enough gas for about two hundred households. They then installed 1.368 solar panels to generate energy themselves, and recently supplemented this with an Energy Storage System with a storage capacity of 328 kWh.
Ideal addition
The brothers' research into energy storage started some time ago. “We always keep our eyes open for opportunities for our company,” says Johan. "An Energy Storage System turned out to be an ideal addition to the manure digester. In addition, we can store the energy we generate with solar panels and store it for later use."
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Subsidy
To make the investment in an Energy Storage System possible, the brothers made use of a subsidy. The subsidies EIA (Energy Investment Deduction) en KIA (Small-scale investment deduction) can also be tapped into when investing in energy storage.
The brothers see the result of their investments on the electricity bill. "It's also nice when it just happens naturally," says Johan with a laugh. "Now the system has proven itself, and we would like to double in capacity."
Energy Shift
During their search, the brothers came into contact with Energy Shift from Barneveld. "We spoke to a number of companies by telephone, but the experience and knowledge at Energy Shift was decisive," says Johan. “The conversations we had with them showed that we are both very enthusiastic and have the same goal in mind.”
Energy Shift has become big in the agricultural world. "We have truly become a specialist, not only in solar panel installations, but also in energy storage," explains Martin Valentijn, one of the company's directors. "I should actually say it differently: it is about sustainable revenue models, generating extra income by becoming more sustainable. That is win-win."
Learn more
Entrepreneurs who want to discover for themselves the benefits of generating and storing energy can visit the website Energy Shift. You will find several stories from agricultural and business entrepreneurs, solutions for energy generation and energy storage and a simple, free Online calculator.