Hi Harry Delighted to hear that you are not using insecticides this time. I am a farmer from Northern Ireland and I have been avoiding the use of them for a few years now. I remember as a child in the late 70s standing on the toolbox of an old Massey Harris 780 Combine while Dad was cutting watching the bugs crawling through the grain tank and then commenting in recent years that it had all gone. I decided to stop using the insecticides and the difference each year is amazing. I am convinced that the natural predators build up to control these pests and I believe using a good rotation helps encourage this further. Look forward to the updates and I hope you do not regret this decision Tony Bell
Should be no debate about going solar, not anymore. We have 13.2kw solar, 2 x Powerwall's and 120,000 litres of rainwater capacity. Done, best thing we ever did. Greetings from Australia. Your videos are great Harry. Cheers.
I’ve just had 5kw of solar and 7.2kwh of batteries installed in the middle of August. I live in the north east of England and the weather has been mixed. It has generated 370kwh in the first month. I paid £11k for the installation. I’ve been pleased with the return so far. Just some real terms info for you all.
@@johnsimpson1126 it’s 12x410w panels and 3x2.4kwh batteries. It was £11k for the whole installation. At current energy rates it won’t take too long to pay for itself that’s ignoring the positive climate effect. I have honestly been more than impressed. If you can afford it I think it’s a no brainer.
@@johnsimpson1126 I used a company called saveheatenergy. They didn’t ask for any deposit, just payment after installation when we were happy with everything. This reassured me. I would be careful of companies asking for big deposits.
For the curious (both for and against solar), I've run Harry's set up through one of the calculators for the UK to see what he could expect. I've not taken into account Harry's roof direction or angle (these have various pros and cons at different times of the year and people debate these endlessly). The calculator assumes a roof angle of 35 degrees and a location equivalent to Manchester. For an 18 kwp system it calculates the lowest month as being December with an average production of 9.72 kwh per day (ranging from 3 to 33 depending on the weather). For the best month of June it gives an average of 67.32 kwh per day (28 to 108 kwh). Harry should get about 5 to 10% more than this due to being more southerly. What the barn roof angle will do I cannot say - probably slightly beneficial in the height of summer but worse in the winter? If we look at a typical home installation of 4kwp the values for January become 3.3 kwh per day (a range of 0.64 to 7.40) and in June 15 kwh per day (6.2 to 22.2 kwh per day). So yes, winter sucks and on really dark days you'll still be running almost exclusively off the grid. Everyone with solar knows this and everyone getting solar should be aware of this as it seems pretty obvious, and a good installer should be able to explain the seasonality pattern to you and what it will mean to you. Over the whole year however, your production should still be worthwhile. The calculator I used is here if you want to try it yourself (others exist as well): lowenergysupermarket.com/solar-calculator/ Remember, a lot depends on your own setup characteristics, shading, roof angle and direction, location and above all our favourite British topic, the weather! Additionally, the rule of thumb for solar generation in the UK is that your weakest month will typically generate 5 times less than your best month. These are useful things to know for anyone wondering if solar is right for them or not. As someone who has been looking into this for 4 years (and having an installation in a couple of weeks), I've taken a long time to look at this topic from all angles. It's a big decision, with long pay back times so it takes a lot of thinking and calculating to know if it is the right choice for you - and it isn't for everyone. The numbers work for us and our life pattern, so we are going ahead. Initial install is a 4kwp system with a Tesla battery to follow a few months down the line (supply issues!). We'll see how that works and if it looks viable we will expand to the other roof adding another 4kwp, mainly to reduce household grid usage in the winter and to allow car charging in the summer, but I want to get a few years of my own data for my own location first. Finally, for larger electrical storage needs such as farm's, a more useful and cost-effective battery technology may be something completely different from traditional battery technologies and that is zinc-flow batteries. Many people have never heard of this battery type and it is of no use in vehicles. I work in a related but different industry to this and the basic technology and principles are very solid for large storage at fixed locations - like a farm, large office complex or factory. Very easy to scale too. Probably the best known western company in this field is Redflow from Australia. If it works in the Outback, it will well work anywhere that is warmer than the arctic. I hope this helps some people with some of their thoughts. After soaking up gradually a lot of information over the last few years, I don't think solar (and batteries) are a con, but neither are they the answer to all problems and the costs are all upfront. Do your research on your own use case and if it looks like it will work for your situation then it probably will. If it doesn't work, or you have no interest in the some of the non-financial benefits, then it is probably not an option that will work for you. I'm pretty sure it is this lack of a clear benefit or drawback to solar that triggers so much of the polarised views on both sides.
I don't know why your channel arrived on my feed a couple of days ago but I'm so thankful as I've learned more about life on a farm than I have in 50 years since working on a dairy farm as a kid .Cheers from Ontario Canada.
We got solar a little while ago, one of the things that we was told to do, and it makes sense is to use as much of your solar in your own home, so one of the things we changed was instead of putting the dishwasher on at night, we put it on during the day. It's little things like that that can make a difference. Cheers for the vid.
Same here. We also fitted an iBoost for a few hundred. It pushes excess solar energy into your hot water tank & Emersion heater. It’s knocked 1/3rd off our gas bill since feb this year.
Big fan of Harry's Garage for years and now this, Harry's Farm. This New Yorker doesn't know a thing about farming, but anything with Harry in it is worth watching, so I've even enjoyed these farm videos.
my dad put in solar hot water and PV 10 over years ago. Still running strong. Paid off long ago. Now with high fuel bills hes laughing with just a few pounds a month energy bill. Best thing to do is just to get as many panels on the roof as possible. The biggest expense is the labour to get the stuff installed.
Hi Harry, we had installed roughly a 3kw solar panels on our bungalow in 2011, it was expensive. The panels were on an East and West roofs and it proved to be very productive. At the time we were told you must have a South facing roof, then I read a German article which suggested our East/West panels would produce almost as much. Very pleased with them, it’s paid for and we have some money coming in. Good luck with your system. Basil
Nice video Harry. I did the same on a farm in Thailand. Installed 2x 5kW systems with the inverters connected in parallel, along with battery storage. We use the power for water irrigation of 1150 trees and to power a small house on the farm. We are completely off grid. The original irrigation system was a diesel engine driving two centrifugal pumps, which we left in place as a backup in case the solar systems fails. As you said, cost and payback is not relevant, as its "the right thing to do" to take advantage of the sun and what becomes free energy. So effectively the farm is self sufficient in water and energy so that it can operate which really gives a lot of peace of mind. Really enjoy your farming a car videos btw, very practical and down to earth.
I learned from other people sharing on youtube about their solar installations, that two roofs under an angle, in two slightly different directions to the sun can be a very good to an almost perfect solution. The first set of panels best getting peak sun at about 11 am, making for an early start into the day (very helpful If batteries are installed, to have an endured charging time of course), and later on the second set of panels kicks max in at around 2:30 pm. Thank you for sharing anyway, all so nice to see! ... And whilst prices per modul keep on falling due to increased demand, under certain conditions it can make sense to over-install the number of panels installed by about 40% - when using two roofs under different angles to the sun. Just maximizes efficiency.
We installed domestic 3.5Kw system 8yrs ago and included an Immerson system to divert energy to the Immersion system thus heating hot water. With our FIT, Immerson and managing our use (cutting grass when sun's out etc.) this system has now paid for itself. BTW, on a cloudy day like Harry mentioned, our system barely charges a lightbulb. Therefore looking into battery storage but as he stated, very expensive at the moment, and as our system is 8yrs old likely to need an Inverter upgrade. But would still recommend Solar to anyone with roofs south facing and not intending to move for 5yrs.
I really enjoy your farm videos as a livestock farmer it’s nice to get a different view on our industry and I’d be interested in your views on farmings future. In the livestock side there are massive changes going on and we are going to see a huge lack of skilled business oriented people to carry on farming and producing food. My thoughts are we are going to see food shortages and massive deficits in payments as we as a country import food that could have been produced here
I metal detect on around 2000 aches in Lincolnshire, love learning what the farmers are doing so after watching your channel, I now know what on earth they are talking about! Thanks Harry!
Three things to love about this video... The explanation/justification for solar, seeing the L322 back on screen, and your balanced view of pesticides. On a massively smaller scale to you, I already have solar on my roof (one elevation) and I'm looking to expand to the other elevation, however I think my use case would suit a small battery installation. You can buy a non-Tesla battery bank for about £3200/7.5Kw. They look like a rack-mount server.
Tesla power wall brilliant bit of kit for storing power my m8 charges it with solar but tops it up at cheap rate and turns off his house mains electric at peak rate and uses the the power wall. it would fit nice on the wall along side your inverter and they can be daisy chained together 👍🏼🇬🇬
In formative as ever. Assuming that the installers didn't do it, I'd recommend that you get some form of netting put around the edge of the solar panels as the pigeons nest under my neighbours panels.
I don't know where you get the time .. So many fingers in so many pies. I'm maintaining 1 x Bungalow, 1 x Garden Shed and 1 x Car .. Your Farm and Garage channels are an inspiration 😀
It good that you have gone solar. More people should do it Harry. I would do it myself but I live in a flat. My landlord wouldn't agree to it. Having said that it the way to go.
It is great fun and information watching you as a gentleman farmer being a farmer. I grew up on a farm in Canada and it was a wonderful place to grow up. But I am so pleased that when my dad asked me if I wanted to take the farm on as his sone and I said no thanks. It is a really questionable way to make a living if it is your only income. I enjoyed living off the land. Eating food from the garden and the meat production. I enjoyed operating heavy machinery and maintaining it all. I enjoyed learning to shoot and control wildlife that damaged our crops. And I enjoyed moving on with all these skills and making my income from high tech.
Our system saved us 4/5th's during winter but I spec'd arrays at 3x our hourly average consumption (during daylight hours) and sized the battery for almost 2x daily consumption. 2x arrays, 90 degrees apart - morning array and afternoon array - angled for winter to boost output when its really wanted. Looked at the Tesla Batteries - very expensive - there are other battery and inverter packages that are almost 1/2 the price, with the same or better performance. I completely agree that the fluffing about trying to predict output is silly in the extreme - waste of effort. Power prices will always go up never down (year to year) On the day we ordered our system, power prices in New Zealand went up an average of $1000 per year for the average household and I smiled - our 7,5kw array and 12kw battery cost $26,700 and has 25 year warranty - paid for itself already. We have ZERO incentives and cheap electricity (83% is renewable already) and it is still worth it. Only regret is not doubling the battery pack - but we have scheduled that for next year - and we did get a modular pack so additions cost almost nothing extra - just buy 2x more boxes and connect into the existing system. End of rant.... BTW We do enjoy the view of what is going on in your world from down here Thanks man.
Excellent video as per usual Harry. I'm about to install a 6KW array on our roof in Spain. Due to the potential issues with grouped solar panels linked to a single invertor, where output of a panel that is not working to potential drags down the performance of any in the same 'string', I've opted for mini invertors on each panel. (I'm also replacing our 35kW gas boiler with a high water temperature (70C) output 16kW ASHP (Daikin) to get rid of gas dependency completely). With regard to battery storage, it is believed that prices will reduce significantly as battery packs from EVs, which are no longer capable of outputting the rate of draw required for the EV, are repurposed for home storage use, so I'm holding off storage at the moment. Apparently these should make an appearance during 2023.
Plenty of pigeons up here in North Yorks, in fact we have some spare, lol. Very interesting to see your solar panel installation, good luck with that. 👏👍😀
I find it fascinating how many pebbles and stones there are in your soil. I grew up in a place that didn't have any stones, and it was actually difficult to find rock for anything. Boy the mud was bad too.
We came across the Cornish Rocker system which we utilised when we put 11kw of solar in, in July. It was running at between 40 - 60 kWh per day till early September, had one dreadful wet day at 9 kWh but is still bouncing around 40 - 50 kWh per day at the end of September. The Rocker system allows the manual adjustment of the angle of the panels allowing a steeper angle in winter with adjustment 4 -5 times a year. So far, we're pretty pleased with it and it will be augmented with batteries that we ordered back in February. Don't know if they are worth it but I hate wasting my solar by giving it to the grid for virtually nothing.
Research was done on solar panels on areas where you'd think panels shouldn't work too well (Norway, North West of Ireland, Scottish Highlands) ans the results found that panels run quite efficiently in wintertime. The reasons are: - The sun is lower to the ground, therefore the solar energy is more intense. - The temperate climate keeps the panels cool, hence they run more efficiently. - Low cloud cover in wintertime - The rain keeps the panels clean
£18k in the bank gets you around £360 at 2% £18k worth of solar earning you £2200+ per year plus reducing your carbon footprint, def money well spent. (Presuming you selling at 0.10p kWh) nice job. Get that cottage wired across to your business power if allowed. Thanks for sharing.
Harry, having owned pv for 6+ years I suspect you won't get 20-22MW over the year. From an 18KWh system I'd suggest around 15.5- 16MW is more likely. Good luck with it, trying to adapt your usage to the times of peak power will keep you occupied!
Rather than a static battery you could consider an electric car/van especially since some, eg MG and Hyundai, can act as batteries effectively supplying mains power in reverse when the sun isn't shining. I used to work at a food factory with large chilled warehouses and kept trying to get them to fit solar panels on the roofs to help power the refrigeration compressors and also they would avoid direct solar load heating up the warehouse roofs - a bit like the tropical roof on an older Land Rover.
Just so you know - the ability of cars to feed the home is limited and some can feed only one or two appliances, so good for camping perhaps. You need to check on whether they can supply a whole house
Have literally just installed the same panels. 10KW with two 9KWh batteries. Plan to add a wind turbine to augment the system on windy days - particularly in winter. This will also help for when the power goes down and the inverters are drawing from the batteries to keep the system running as a back up. I have another 3.2KWp system without batteries and 80% of my yearly production is during May-Sep. Don’t be surprised if you hardly get anything from October to April. Check out Givenergy batteries. Much better value than Tesla.
Yes. solar is worth looking again. You will get peanuts from October to March, but the output in summer will make it worthwhile (for you, not the grid when we don't need the power). Remember you will need to clean the panels now and again in dry dusty summers. Another roof facing SW or SE is a good idea to balance the overall output (especially for the grid).
PV panels apparently only run at 80% of rated capacity. Due south is the ideal direction for them. I was told that a clear winter sky is best for production not the hot summer sun. The most I've had is 28 kWh in a day from a 3.6kw system. Well worth the cost. Harry was bang on the money, cost wise.
You might be pleasantly surprised about solar performance on clear winter days - solar performs better in direct sunlight, but it also performs worse when they get hot, so strong sunlight with low temperatures is when it does best.
My Dad put solar panels on a barn roof about 9 or 10 years ago. Has worked out pretty well. But output will halve in winter. Overall, probably breakeven over the useful life of 20+ years. What it earns / saves each year offset with depreciation of the capital investment to zero over time.
Harry & Elves just did the figures on a system that has been installed for 11 years and the output was:- 10% of the total available output. Maximum out put for 2 months around the summer solstice. All output on a bell curve as one would expect. 18,000 x 24x 365= 157,000,000W 157 Mw The next bit calculated in Devon 10% of 157Mw 15.7 Mw per year
I installed a 10.6K size system that was turned on just about three months ago. I used micro-inverters for each panel owing to some shading issues I have to deal with for the time being. My home uses about 11,000 KWH in a year and I'm hoping the system can offset 90% of our electrical consumption. Thus far, the system has produced 3 megawatts since turn-on beginning June 30.
Super video great explanation as always Interested in solar myself good to have info that's concise. Like the older type Range Rover too. Keep up the good work Harry.
Solar is fairly dependable even up here in the north of Scotland my brothers system was going to be a 25yr pay back that is now down to less than 15 and free electricity 👍🏻🏴
The Metcalfe empire continues to be revealed; swimming pool/farm cottages/exotic car garage and like any good farmer continues to plead poverty! 😂. The PV is very interesting and I understand your reluctance on the battery costs but I’m looking forward to this addition to see how the energy creation works alongside storage. Thanks.
I have had solar here in Australia for about 7 years. We have a 5kw system and we have NEVER got to 5kw even in the middle of an Australian summer. We are heavy users of energy and the panels have reduced our energy bill every 90 days to about 25% of a normal bill. We have had good returns on our panels once we setup a panel cleaning system of every 9 months.
Interesting information on Farming Today on the 21st Sept about warm winters and the effect they have on OSR. You think you've got a solution to the flea beetle via a variety that gets going before they can demolish the crop, only for a warm winter to reduce yield by up to 25%! Farming really is the ultimate form of gambling! The drop in cost of solar panels is music to my ears. Something to revisit perhaps. Would love to see Harry's Farm tour some other farms to help educate us on different farming methods, different crops, pasture, dairy, etc. as you educate in away that is easy to understand and yet thorough. I do still love your L322 RR. Perfect colour, trim, wheel combo. If you do ever decide to sell it, I am first in the queue to buy it.
A very interesting episode Harry. I'd like to understand more about the long-term decisions that you have had to make on your farm over the years and understand more about how you plan for 3 or more years ahead in farming. 👍
Hopefully your solar will open some unexpected future developments, such as the possibility of running some electric machinery on the cheap…even if it’s a small tractor or/and a converted Landrover or something. We’ve had 5.7kW domestic array for four years, through a 5kW Solaredge inverter. Yesterday (miserable day), we were still getting 4.8kW when the sun poked through. We face southwest, so 6 panels face SE and 11 SW…still good production we feel. The irony is that, on hot clear sunny days, the panels produce a steady 4.4/4.6kW, and on a blustery sunny day with fast moving clouds 5kW. They suffer with high temperatures, but it’s all swings and roundabouts, and all good. We did go for a Powerwall (and would add another if there wasn’t a 10kW inverter output capacity cap to the grid). On a dull day, as long as the array is making a fraction more than the electric demand every now and then, the battery keeps topping up a kW or so and releasing the energy back, and will run the house on tick over, with the odd brew etc, without import from the Grid. In other words, the battery works for us even in poor weather without ever fully topping up. We leave a 50% buffer in the winter, as it will rarely fill from 0 to 100% in these months and it gives us contingency/emergency energy. Really makes you think about how you use energy. Those rapeseed fledglings look like they’ll survive (on video), so let’s hope. Really fascinating…good luck!
Solar panels are a mixed bag. Here in the Algarve with full sun you'll get near to 100% output under a blue sky ... but during blazing hot weather, panels typically lose 0.5% per degree of temp above 25C. It's not unheard of for the surface temp of panels to reach 60C in full sun = ~83% output with no clouds in the sky.
Another act video, the solar is facinating. I agree that now isn't the time for a seperate battery but I think in future the increased take up on bi-electric vehicles. like the Ford Lightening' with solve this problem.
18 kWp is your DC input into your inverter. Your AC output from the inverter will lower. Panels are overinstalled on the DC side to give you a better power output when the sun is low.
The roof of my house faces ESE and WNW, with a 30 deg. pitch, so would need panels each side of the ridge and the great big chimney casts a big shadow in the afternoon across the roof. A feasibility sturdy would need to be done. We get more cloudy days here than sunny with many days of 'liquid sunshine' from the Atlantic, hence the prevalence of livestock and dairy over arable farming. Shallow soil depth over the bedrock doesn't help either.
Yes, solar is interesting! Beware tho Harry, u need to keep it clean, so if any "sahara rains" appear u need to clean then so they gain back efficiency.
Can't grow another plant more attractive to the beetle. Or introduce another insect to flush them out. I know at the garden centre we used to buy in live insects to kill off an insect that was damaging the plants'. Obviously the introduced insects didn't damage the plants also. No idea what the either of the insects were, but I could find out just in case anyone wanted to know. Another interesting video. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
I learn more from Harry about things in the world in 13 minutes than a month on tv.
you won't learn anything from TV.
he actually a farmer that explains the real choices guys on the ground make and the economics behind it
Hi Harry
Delighted to hear that you are not using insecticides this time. I am a farmer from Northern Ireland and I have been avoiding the use of them for a few years now. I remember as a child in the late 70s standing on the toolbox of an old Massey Harris 780 Combine while Dad was cutting watching the bugs crawling through the grain tank and then commenting in recent years that it had all gone. I decided to stop using the insecticides and the difference each year is amazing. I am convinced that the natural predators build up to control these pests and I believe using a good rotation helps encourage this further.
Look forward to the updates and I hope you do not regret this decision
Tony Bell
OMG, THANK YOU for sharing!! Important information. I want to farm when this world-wide “Kerfuffle” is OVER.......
Well said Anthony , good sir . Good to hear your experience from the past here 👍
Great input!
Give bugs a chance.....
Well done for not killing all the insects,
Another thoroughly interesting video. Thanks from down under.
Thanks Harry, as a non farmer I really enjoy your farm videos, very informative on a subject most of us have
limited knowledge of.
Should be no debate about going solar, not anymore. We have 13.2kw solar, 2 x Powerwall's and 120,000 litres of rainwater capacity. Done, best thing we ever did. Greetings from Australia. Your videos are great Harry. Cheers.
Yet ANOTHER reason to Love ❤️ Harry’s Farm is:
His endearing , handsome little 4-legged friend!
🐶 ❤️
I’ve just had 5kw of solar and 7.2kwh of batteries installed in the middle of August. I live in the north east of England and the weather has been mixed. It has generated 370kwh in the first month. I paid £11k for the installation. I’ve been pleased with the return so far. Just some real terms info for you all.
I seem to use 113kwh a week but that would certainly take the edge off generating 370 myself.
thanks. How many panels (m2 in total) did you need for this please? Is the price including batteries?
@@johnsimpson1126 it’s 12x410w panels and 3x2.4kwh batteries. It was £11k for the whole installation. At current energy rates it won’t take too long to pay for itself that’s ignoring the positive climate effect. I have honestly been more than impressed. If you can afford it I think it’s a no brainer.
@@johnsimpson1126 I used a company called saveheatenergy. They didn’t ask for any deposit, just payment after installation when we were happy with everything. This reassured me. I would be careful of companies asking for big deposits.
@@jaxgeorge3088 I'm just slightly south of you so even better! thanks for the reply - useful, without doubt worth considering.
For the curious (both for and against solar), I've run Harry's set up through one of the calculators for the UK to see what he could expect. I've not taken into account Harry's roof direction or angle (these have various pros and cons at different times of the year and people debate these endlessly). The calculator assumes a roof angle of 35 degrees and a location equivalent to Manchester. For an 18 kwp system it calculates the lowest month as being December with an average production of 9.72 kwh per day (ranging from 3 to 33 depending on the weather). For the best month of June it gives an average of 67.32 kwh per day (28 to 108 kwh). Harry should get about 5 to 10% more than this due to being more southerly. What the barn roof angle will do I cannot say - probably slightly beneficial in the height of summer but worse in the winter?
If we look at a typical home installation of 4kwp the values for January become 3.3 kwh per day (a range of 0.64 to 7.40) and in June 15 kwh per day (6.2 to 22.2 kwh per day).
So yes, winter sucks and on really dark days you'll still be running almost exclusively off the grid. Everyone with solar knows this and everyone getting solar should be aware of this as it seems pretty obvious, and a good installer should be able to explain the seasonality pattern to you and what it will mean to you. Over the whole year however, your production should still be worthwhile.
The calculator I used is here if you want to try it yourself (others exist as well):
lowenergysupermarket.com/solar-calculator/
Remember, a lot depends on your own setup characteristics, shading, roof angle and direction, location and above all our favourite British topic, the weather!
Additionally, the rule of thumb for solar generation in the UK is that your weakest month will typically generate 5 times less than your best month.
These are useful things to know for anyone wondering if solar is right for them or not. As someone who has been looking into this for 4 years (and having an installation in a couple of weeks), I've taken a long time to look at this topic from all angles. It's a big decision, with long pay back times so it takes a lot of thinking and calculating to know if it is the right choice for you - and it isn't for everyone. The numbers work for us and our life pattern, so we are going ahead. Initial install is a 4kwp system with a Tesla battery to follow a few months down the line (supply issues!). We'll see how that works and if it looks viable we will expand to the other roof adding another 4kwp, mainly to reduce household grid usage in the winter and to allow car charging in the summer, but I want to get a few years of my own data for my own location first.
Finally, for larger electrical storage needs such as farm's, a more useful and cost-effective battery technology may be something completely different from traditional battery technologies and that is zinc-flow batteries. Many people have never heard of this battery type and it is of no use in vehicles. I work in a related but different industry to this and the basic technology and principles are very solid for large storage at fixed locations - like a farm, large office complex or factory. Very easy to scale too. Probably the best known western company in this field is Redflow from Australia. If it works in the Outback, it will well work anywhere that is warmer than the arctic.
I hope this helps some people with some of their thoughts. After soaking up gradually a lot of information over the last few years, I don't think solar (and batteries) are a con, but neither are they the answer to all problems and the costs are all upfront. Do your research on your own use case and if it looks like it will work for your situation then it probably will. If it doesn't work, or you have no interest in the some of the non-financial benefits, then it is probably not an option that will work for you. I'm pretty sure it is this lack of a clear benefit or drawback to solar that triggers so much of the polarised views on both sides.
I don't know why your channel arrived on my feed a couple of days ago but I'm so thankful as I've learned more about life on a farm than I have in 50 years since working on a dairy farm as a kid .Cheers from Ontario Canada.
We got solar a little while ago, one of the things that we was told to do, and it makes sense is to use as much of your solar in your own home, so one of the things we changed was instead of putting the dishwasher on at night, we put it on during the day. It's little things like that that can make a difference. Cheers for the vid.
Same here. We also fitted an iBoost for a few hundred. It pushes excess solar energy into your hot water tank & Emersion heater. It’s knocked 1/3rd off our gas bill since feb this year.
@@KrisFLton We got a bigger hot water tank than we needed, so that is like a battery in a way
What panels did you get? & how many & how much?
Big fan of Harry's Garage for years and now this, Harry's Farm. This New Yorker doesn't know a thing about farming, but anything with Harry in it is worth watching, so I've even enjoyed these farm videos.
Brilliant varied vid harry
my dad put in solar hot water and PV 10 over years ago. Still running strong. Paid off long ago. Now with high fuel bills hes laughing with just a few pounds a month energy bill. Best thing to do is just to get as many panels on the roof as possible. The biggest expense is the labour to get the stuff installed.
Hi Harry, we had installed roughly a 3kw solar panels on our bungalow in 2011, it was expensive. The panels were on an East and West roofs and it proved to be very productive. At the time we were told you must have a South facing roof, then I read a German article which suggested our East/West panels would produce almost as much. Very pleased with them, it’s paid for and we have some money coming in. Good luck with your system. Basil
Works well if paid for. If someone takes out a loan to buy them the interest on the loan is Usually more than the savings
Nice video Harry.
I did the same on a farm in Thailand. Installed 2x 5kW systems with the inverters connected in parallel, along with battery storage. We use the power for water irrigation of 1150 trees and to power a small house on the farm. We are completely off grid. The original irrigation system was a diesel engine driving two centrifugal pumps, which we left in place as a backup in case the solar systems fails. As you said, cost and payback is not relevant, as its "the right thing to do" to take advantage of the sun and what becomes free energy. So effectively the farm is self sufficient in water and energy so that it can operate which really gives a lot of peace of mind.
Really enjoy your farming a car videos btw, very practical and down to earth.
I learned from other people sharing on youtube about their solar installations, that two roofs under an angle, in two slightly different directions to the sun can be a very good to an almost perfect solution.
The first set of panels best getting peak sun at about 11 am, making for an early start into the day (very helpful If batteries are installed, to have an endured charging time of course), and later on the second set of panels kicks max in at around 2:30 pm. Thank you for sharing anyway, all so nice to see!
... And whilst prices per modul keep on falling due to increased demand, under certain conditions it can make sense to over-install the number of panels installed by about 40% - when using two roofs under different angles to the sun. Just maximizes efficiency.
Excellent, as always. Thank you Harry.
We installed domestic 3.5Kw system 8yrs ago and included an Immerson system to divert energy to the Immersion system thus heating hot water. With our FIT, Immerson and managing our use (cutting grass when sun's out etc.) this system has now paid for itself. BTW, on a cloudy day like Harry mentioned, our system barely charges a lightbulb. Therefore looking into battery storage but as he stated, very expensive at the moment, and as our system is 8yrs old likely to need an Inverter upgrade.
But would still recommend Solar to anyone with roofs south facing and not intending to move for 5yrs.
I really enjoy your farm videos as a livestock farmer it’s nice to get a different view on our industry and I’d be interested in your views on farmings future. In the livestock side there are massive changes going on and we are going to see a huge lack of skilled business oriented people to carry on farming and producing food. My thoughts are we are going to see food shortages and massive deficits in payments as we as a country import food that could have been produced here
I metal detect on around 2000 aches in Lincolnshire, love learning what the farmers are doing so after watching your channel, I now know what on earth they are talking about! Thanks Harry!
Thank you for this, wishing you success with your crop.
Good to see Stanley again! He's a lucky dog to live on a farm.
Three things to love about this video... The explanation/justification for solar, seeing the L322 back on screen, and your balanced view of pesticides.
On a massively smaller scale to you, I already have solar on my roof (one elevation) and I'm looking to expand to the other elevation, however I think my use case would suit a small battery installation. You can buy a non-Tesla battery bank for about £3200/7.5Kw. They look like a rack-mount server.
SOK for instance. LiPoFe best technology.
Tesla power wall brilliant bit of kit for storing power my m8 charges it with solar but tops it up at cheap rate and turns off his house mains electric at peak rate and uses the the power wall. it would fit nice on the wall along side your inverter and they can be daisy chained together 👍🏼🇬🇬
Short warranty, 12-18m lead time, expensive, most batteries can do this, Foxx, Solax etc
@@GM-ii8gs true enough but everything’s expensive here 👍🏼🇬🇬
In formative as ever. Assuming that the installers didn't do it, I'd recommend that you get some form of netting put around the edge of the solar panels as the pigeons nest under my neighbours panels.
I don't know where you get the time .. So many fingers in so many pies. I'm maintaining 1 x Bungalow, 1 x Garden Shed and 1 x Car .. Your Farm and Garage channels are an inspiration 😀
Always so interesting, thanks Harry
Thank you for making this amazing video!
It good that you have gone solar. More people should do it Harry. I would do it myself but I live in a flat. My landlord wouldn't agree to it. Having said that it the way to go.
It is great fun and information watching you as a gentleman farmer being a farmer.
I grew up on a farm in Canada and it was a wonderful place to grow up.
But I am so pleased that when my dad asked me if I wanted to take the farm on as his sone and I said no thanks. It is a really questionable way to make a living if it is your only income.
I enjoyed living off the land. Eating food from the garden and the meat production. I enjoyed operating heavy machinery and maintaining it all. I enjoyed learning to shoot and control wildlife that damaged our crops. And I enjoyed moving on with all these skills and making my income from high tech.
Our system saved us 4/5th's during winter but I spec'd arrays at 3x our hourly average consumption (during daylight hours) and sized the battery for almost 2x daily consumption.
2x arrays, 90 degrees apart - morning array and afternoon array - angled for winter to boost output when its really wanted.
Looked at the Tesla Batteries - very expensive - there are other battery and inverter packages that are almost 1/2 the price, with the same or better performance.
I completely agree that the fluffing about trying to predict output is silly in the extreme - waste of effort. Power prices will always go up never down (year to year)
On the day we ordered our system, power prices in New Zealand went up an average of $1000 per year for the average household and I smiled - our 7,5kw array and 12kw battery cost $26,700 and has 25 year warranty - paid for itself already. We have ZERO incentives and cheap electricity (83% is renewable already) and it is still worth it.
Only regret is not doubling the battery pack - but we have scheduled that for next year - and we did get a modular pack so additions cost almost nothing extra - just buy 2x more boxes and connect into the existing system.
End of rant.... BTW We do enjoy the view of what is going on in your world from down here Thanks man.
Excellent video as per usual Harry. I'm about to install a 6KW array on our roof in Spain. Due to the potential issues with grouped solar panels linked to a single invertor, where output of a panel that is not working to potential drags down the performance of any in the same 'string', I've opted for mini invertors on each panel. (I'm also replacing our 35kW gas boiler with a high water temperature (70C) output 16kW ASHP (Daikin) to get rid of gas dependency completely).
With regard to battery storage, it is believed that prices will reduce significantly as battery packs from EVs, which are no longer capable of outputting the rate of draw required for the EV, are repurposed for home storage use, so I'm holding off storage at the moment. Apparently these should make an appearance during 2023.
Looking forward to more solar updates.
Brilliant, very informative content once again!
Will be interesting to follow how the solar works out for you.
Harry’s Garage is so good I’m now into farming
Excellent video Harry, very informative.
Such insight into farming issues on the ground. It should be all of our concerns to keep farming going and prosperous
Great update Harry, you do have a lot to think about! Take care
Another fascinating video. This ought to be compulsory viewing for children. With luck some might learn something of value. Keep posting Harry. Thanks
Plenty of pigeons up here in North Yorks, in fact we have some spare, lol. Very interesting to see your solar panel installation, good luck with that. 👏👍😀
I find it fascinating how many pebbles and stones there are in your soil. I grew up in a place that didn't have any stones, and it was actually difficult to find rock for anything. Boy the mud was bad too.
Thank you, Harry.
Cheers harry always informative interesting thank you so much ciao
We came across the Cornish Rocker system which we utilised when we put 11kw of solar in, in July. It was running at between 40 - 60 kWh per day till early September, had one dreadful wet day at 9 kWh but is still bouncing around 40 - 50 kWh per day at the end of September. The Rocker system allows the manual adjustment of the angle of the panels allowing a steeper angle in winter with adjustment 4 -5 times a year. So far, we're pretty pleased with it and it will be augmented with batteries that we ordered back in February. Don't know if they are worth it but I hate wasting my solar by giving it to the grid for virtually nothing.
Don't know who you export to but Octopus have put Doubled what they pay to 15p/kw. I can see this going up further!
Solar for Spring/Summer, Wind Turbine for Autumn/Winter. They complement each other well.
Research was done on solar panels on areas where you'd think panels shouldn't work too well (Norway, North West of Ireland, Scottish Highlands) ans the results found that panels run quite efficiently in wintertime. The reasons are:
- The sun is lower to the ground, therefore the solar energy is more intense.
- The temperate climate keeps the panels cool, hence they run more efficiently.
- Low cloud cover in wintertime
- The rain keeps the panels clean
Really intresting Harry. Another great update. Thankyou.
Think you should show more of your side-kick Harry.
More Stanley please
£18k in the bank gets you around £360 at 2% £18k worth of solar earning you £2200+ per year plus reducing your carbon footprint, def money well spent. (Presuming you selling at 0.10p kWh) nice job. Get that cottage wired across to your business power if allowed. Thanks for sharing.
Great move, you timed this right cost wise 👍🇮🇲
Harry, having owned pv for 6+ years I suspect you won't get 20-22MW over the year. From an 18KWh system I'd suggest around 15.5- 16MW is more likely. Good luck with it, trying to adapt your usage to the times of peak power will keep you occupied!
Thanks Harry, fascinating to listen, cheers
Your dog is awesome!
I really enjoy your videos Harry - so informative. Thank you!
Rather than a static battery you could consider an electric car/van especially since some, eg MG and Hyundai, can act as batteries effectively supplying mains power in reverse when the sun isn't shining. I used to work at a food factory with large chilled warehouses and kept trying to get them to fit solar panels on the roofs to help power the refrigeration compressors and also they would avoid direct solar load heating up the warehouse roofs - a bit like the tropical roof on an older Land Rover.
Just so you know - the ability of cars to feed the home is limited and some can feed only one or two appliances, so good for camping perhaps. You need to check on whether they can supply a whole house
Thanks very much Harry, i love seeing all the progress
All ways a great watch as to how life goes on in your farming life .
As ever a great video and very informative. Thank you.
Good luck with the OSR ! 👍
Rangey looking fine in the first shot
Have literally just installed the same panels. 10KW with two 9KWh batteries. Plan to add a wind turbine to augment the system on windy days - particularly in winter. This will also help for when the power goes down and the inverters are drawing from the batteries to keep the system running as a back up.
I have another 3.2KWp system without batteries and 80% of my yearly production is during May-Sep. Don’t be surprised if you hardly get anything from October to April.
Check out Givenergy batteries. Much better value than Tesla.
Yes. solar is worth looking again. You will get peanuts from October to March, but the output in summer will make it worthwhile (for you, not the grid when we don't need the power). Remember you will need to clean the panels now and again in dry dusty summers. Another roof facing SW or SE is a good idea to balance the overall output (especially for the grid).
PV panels apparently only run at 80% of rated capacity. Due south is the ideal direction for them. I was told that a clear winter sky is best for production not the hot summer sun. The most I've had is 28 kWh in a day from a 3.6kw system. Well worth the cost. Harry was bang on the money, cost wise.
Thanks Harry 👍
You might be pleasantly surprised about solar performance on clear winter days - solar performs better in direct sunlight, but it also performs worse when they get hot, so strong sunlight with low temperatures is when it does best.
My Dad put solar panels on a barn roof about 9 or 10 years ago. Has worked out pretty well. But output will halve in winter. Overall, probably breakeven over the useful life of 20+ years. What it earns / saves each year offset with depreciation of the capital investment to zero over time.
So its a waste of time
@@joesoap393 10 year payback, no problem
Really interesting as always
Harry & Elves just did the figures on a system that has been installed for 11 years and the output was:-
10% of the total available output.
Maximum out put for 2 months around the summer solstice.
All output on a bell curve as one would expect.
18,000 x 24x 365= 157,000,000W 157 Mw The next bit calculated in Devon 10% of 157Mw 15.7 Mw per year
You don’t really consider maximum output to be if it’s full sun 24/7 as that’s not really possible.
X 24 (hours) - are you sure?
I installed a 10.6K size system that was turned on just about three months ago. I used micro-inverters for each panel owing to some shading issues I have to deal with for the time being. My home uses about 11,000 KWH in a year and I'm hoping the system can offset 90% of our electrical consumption. Thus far, the system has produced 3 megawatts since turn-on beginning June 30.
That opening scene! 🥹
Super video great explanation as always
Interested in solar myself good to have info that's concise.
Like the older type Range Rover too.
Keep up the good work Harry.
Solar is fairly dependable even up here in the north of Scotland my brothers system was going to be a 25yr pay back that is now down to less than 15 and free electricity 👍🏻🏴
Good man! Good and sincere explanation.
The Metcalfe empire continues to be revealed; swimming pool/farm cottages/exotic car garage and like any good farmer continues to plead poverty! 😂. The PV is very interesting and I understand your reluctance on the battery costs but I’m looking forward to this addition to see how the energy creation works alongside storage. Thanks.
I prefer that to my local farmers who all claim to be brilliant business men when all they did was flog their land off to property developers.
The money came.from publishing not farming. Lots of rich gentleman farmers in the cotswolds, I think its a fun hobby.
@@readmycomment3157 I take it you’re not a fan of irony?
Thanks, Harry. Now I feel much less stupid when it comes to solar!
I have had solar here in Australia for about 7 years. We have a 5kw system and we have NEVER got to 5kw even in the middle of an Australian summer. We are heavy users of energy and the panels have reduced our energy bill every 90 days to about 25% of a normal bill. We have had good returns on our panels once we setup a panel cleaning system of every 9 months.
Well done Harry
Interesting information on Farming Today on the 21st Sept about warm winters and the effect they have on OSR. You think you've got a solution to the flea beetle via a variety that gets going before they can demolish the crop, only for a warm winter to reduce yield by up to 25%! Farming really is the ultimate form of gambling! The drop in cost of solar panels is music to my ears. Something to revisit perhaps. Would love to see Harry's Farm tour some other farms to help educate us on different farming methods, different crops, pasture, dairy, etc. as you educate in away that is easy to understand and yet thorough. I do still love your L322 RR. Perfect colour, trim, wheel combo. If you do ever decide to sell it, I am first in the queue to buy it.
A very interesting episode Harry. I'd like to understand more about the long-term decisions that you have had to make on your farm over the years and understand more about how you plan for 3 or more years ahead in farming. 👍
Hopefully your solar will open some unexpected future developments, such as the possibility of running some electric machinery on the cheap…even if it’s a small tractor or/and a converted Landrover or something.
We’ve had 5.7kW domestic array for four years, through a 5kW Solaredge inverter. Yesterday (miserable day), we were still getting 4.8kW when the sun poked through. We face southwest, so 6 panels face SE and 11 SW…still good production we feel. The irony is that, on hot clear sunny days, the panels produce a steady 4.4/4.6kW, and on a blustery sunny day with fast moving clouds 5kW. They suffer with high temperatures, but it’s all swings and roundabouts, and all good.
We did go for a Powerwall (and would add another if there wasn’t a 10kW inverter output capacity cap to the grid). On a dull day, as long as the array is making a fraction more than the electric demand every now and then, the battery keeps topping up a kW or so and releasing the energy back, and will run the house on tick over, with the odd brew etc, without import from the Grid. In other words, the battery works for us even in poor weather without ever fully topping up. We leave a 50% buffer in the winter, as it will rarely fill from 0 to 100% in these months and it gives us contingency/emergency energy. Really makes you think about how you use energy.
Those rapeseed fledglings look like they’ll survive (on video), so let’s hope. Really fascinating…good luck!
Top tip, you can make the clips at a fraction of the cost.on a 3d printer and do the job perfectly. No Waiting!
Solar panels are a mixed bag. Here in the Algarve with full sun you'll get near to 100% output under a blue sky ... but during blazing hot weather, panels typically lose 0.5% per degree of temp above 25C. It's not unheard of for the surface temp of panels to reach 60C in full sun = ~83% output with no clouds in the sky.
Interesting content as usual. Worrying times.
Another act video, the solar is facinating. I agree that now isn't the time for a seperate battery but I think in future the increased take up on bi-electric vehicles. like the Ford Lightening' with solve this problem.
Don’t forget to clean the panels regularly, otherwise you have in effect a cloudy day everyday!
Fingers crossed with you Harry.
Thx as ever. Carry on!
Great video as always, glaf you have the same thoughts as me. With our recent solar install also.
Yes, let's not worry about NPV and return on investment - we'll do it by...feel!
Always interesting Harry, good luck with the oilseedrape @)
Nice setup.
Harry has to be the hardest working farmer/UA-camr/car journalist there is! My hat is off to you. 😊
18 kWp is your DC input into your inverter. Your AC output from the inverter will lower. Panels are overinstalled on the DC side to give you a better power output when the sun is low.
The L322 is looking smart
The roof of my house faces ESE and WNW, with a 30 deg. pitch, so would need panels each side of the ridge and the great big chimney casts a big shadow in the afternoon across the roof. A feasibility sturdy would need to be done. We get more cloudy days here than sunny with many days of 'liquid sunshine' from the Atlantic, hence the prevalence of livestock and dairy over arable farming. Shallow soil depth over the bedrock doesn't help either.
Yes, solar is interesting! Beware tho Harry, u need to keep it clean, so if any "sahara rains" appear u need to clean then so they gain back efficiency.
I have a solarpower and windpower setup at my home as well, a clothesline !
Can't grow another plant more attractive to the beetle. Or introduce another insect to flush them out. I know at the garden centre we used to buy in live insects to kill off an insect that was damaging the plants'. Obviously the introduced insects didn't damage the plants also. No idea what the either of the insects were, but I could find out just in case anyone wanted to know. Another interesting video. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Just put 2kw PV on my garage roof , inverter is in and 5kwh of lithium will be fitted tomorrow ,southwest 🇬🇧
I look forward to the battery installation episodes….