Making every ray count: farmscale solar + Sigenergy at Kina Road
60 panels across multiple dairy shed roof faces and a Sigenergy hybrid battery — 42,000+ kWh/yr, ~4 year payback, and a winter week of 170 kWh generation with only 1.63 kWh imported.
“Solar isn’t just about generating power. It’s about giving farmers more control over one of their biggest operating costs.”
When Troy and Janelle first got in touch, they weren’t chasing the biggest solar system on the market. Like many dairy farmers, they wanted to take control of rising electricity costs — and invest in something that would keep delivering for decades.
Around the kitchen table it was clear this wasn’t a one-size-fits-all job. The dairy shed didn’t have one large north-facing roof. Available space was spread across different roof faces, so the system had to harvest energy through the day — not only at midday.
The question that shaped the design
Rather than asking “How many panels can we fit?” we asked:
How can we make every kilowatt-hour work harder for the farm?
That steered the whole install: 60 high-efficiency solar panels paired with a Sigenergy hybrid battery system — generation plus storage for when the dairy shed needs power most.
How the battery earns its keep
Through the day the battery quietly fills gaps as clouds roll through, cutting expensive grid imports. Excess solar isn’t wasted either — it covers evening, overnight and early-morning milking before the farm buys a unit from the grid.
It’s a smarter way of using energy. Learn more about the platform on our Sigenergy partner page.
The numbers
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Panels | 60 high-efficiency |
| Platform | Sigenergy hybrid + battery |
| Est. annual generation | 42,000+ kWh |
| Est. payback | ~4 years |
| Winter week sample | 170 kWh generated / 1.63 kWh imported |
Even in mid-winter — when solar production is at its lowest — early performance has exceeded expectations. For a dairy farm in July, nearly erasing grid imports for a week is exactly what the system was designed to achieve.
What good solar should do
What we enjoy most isn’t the graphs on the app. It’s knowing every sunny day puts money back into a local farming family’s business instead of the power company.
Book a free farm energy assessment →
Or see the full project write-up: Kina Road use case.