Solar Power World talks with Todd Miller, business manager for CB Solar (No. 203 on the 2014 Top 400 Solar Contractors list) about installing solar on farms.
Solar Power World: How did CB Solar get started installing solar arrays on farms?
Todd Miller: Amazingly, we got started in the rural and farm market through a Craigslist ad we ran. We received a call from a hog and grain farmer in Washington County looking to lower operating costs. During our evaluation, we discovered the client needed 15 kW for the two hog confinement buildings and a 30-kW array for the shop, office and bin site.
SPW: What challenges do you face when installing solar on farms?
Miller: When installing on a farm, we are sure to use modules that have been rated and tested for ammonia as well as sealed connections. The fumes from ammonia can be intensely damaging to metals. We also fight dust from gravel roads and the animals themselves.
SPW: What is CB Solar’s role in the installations?
Miller: We like to know what goes into our installation so if a problem should ever arise, we can diagnose it fairly quickly. For that reason, we use all of our own installers. We handle all of the paperwork for our clients including cash flows for their CPAs and banks, as well as all interconnection paperwork for the utility. We order directly from the module, inverter and rail manufacturers so that we can pass our savings to our clients.
Because of the ample roof space typical on hog and poultry farms, Miller says the majority of these installations are roof-mounted. This way the arrays are also out of the way of machinery.
SPW: How does solar benefit the farms?
Miller: Farming is an ever-changing market in price, yields, production, etc. By fixing their electrical costs, farmers are able to lower their costs in the good and bad years.
SPW: Do you have a favorite installation CB Solar has done?
Miller: Our favorite installation is a 60-kW array at a turkey grower. We placed 200, 300-W modules on one building, which supply $12,000 a year in power to a brooder house, four growers and the grain drying system they use to feed the birds.
The clients of the turkey grower array cut costs of the fans, lights, grain handling systems and the feed itself by decreasing the expense to dry it.