Glanbia Ireland, the Irish global nutrition group, announced on July 8 that it is launching FarmGen, a renewable energy initiative for farmers and the farming community.

According to Glanbia, this technology "will help farmers to sustainably grow their business in the future, while improving energy efficiency on farms and reducing bills."

Once installed on the roof, the FarmGen solar system concentrates on supporting energy-intensive processes on the farm, reducing the cost of cooling milk, vacuum pumps and heating water.

Activ8 Solar Energies will supply and install state-of-the-art solar PV panels along with an intelligent monitoring system on each farm.

The system will monitor the production and consumption of energy in real time; helping farmers understand where and when energy is consumed, and therefore helping them adapt behaviors that will reduce energy costs and improve sustainability.

As part of the proposal, export counters will also be installed at the farms, which will allow them to receive potential profits from future incentives to return electricity to the grid.

The company’s statement said that farmers can get 100% financing for the FarmGen initiative through the existing Fundacquel scheme in Glanbia Ireland, and can also use all available grant funds, such as TAMS II (Targeted Agricultural Modernization) or SEAI.

This solar energy solution is open to all sectors of agriculture and size, with individual sales packages.