Farm Type Guides — Farm Solar Insights

Every UK farm type has a different energy profile, and that decides how much of a solar array's output the farm uses itself. Dairy farms milk twice a day and cool milk continuously, giving a steady daytime load. Poultry and pig units run ventilation and feeding around the clock, so daytime generation is almost always used on site.

Arable farms have seasonal peaks tied to grain drying at harvest, so sizing is matched to that window. Mixed farms blend several profiles across several buildings. Beef and sheep farms have lower baseline demand, where smaller systems and batteries often fit best.

Specialist enterprises have their own needs: soft fruit and packhouses use solar for pre-cooling and refrigeration, glasshouses have large lighting and climate-control loads, and mushroom farms run climate control and refrigeration continuously.

Diversified enterprises — equestrian centres, alpaca farms, goat dairies, vineyards and fish farms — have unusual electricity profiles that don't fit rules of thumb, which is why a proposal should be built from the farm's own half-hourly meter data.

Browse all 22 farm-type pages for sector-specific sizing and compliance notes; the articles below dive into specific questions by sector.