Agricultural solar
Farm-scale solar on a working dairy shed — generation where the load lives, hardware built for coastal Taranaki wind, and a platform ready for battery when the numbers say storage can push grid-energy reduction toward ~95%.
SYSTEM AT A GLANCE
Solar on the shed → hybrid inverter → battery bank → home and evening loads. Sized for self-use, not just export.
Both roof pitches
DC + AC isolation
Milking, pumps, chill
Shed roof
Where it sits
Generation on the building that already carries the dairy load
Sungrow
Inverter platform
Labelled isolators, shutdown procedure, Sinclair Solar handover
Coast
Built for weather
Coastal wind and salt — not inland brochure assumptions
Local
Crew & aftercare
Ōpunake / Ōkato-based team who know farm electrical
THE BRIEF
On a coastal dairy farm at Pungarehu, power follows the shed — milking, pumping, and plant that run when the sun is up. The roof was already there; the question was whether solar could earn its keep without fighting farm operations or coastal weather.
Luke needed generation matched to daytime dairy load, hardware that survives wind and salt, and an install that wouldn’t shut the yard down for a week.
THE DESIGN
We put the array on the dairy shed roof — both pitches — so generation lands where the load already lives. Stringing, isolators, and the Sungrow inverter were planned for a clean wall install with clear shutdown labelling.
Staging and access were built around a working farm: cattle pens, silos, and vehicles stay part of the picture. Same local crew who wire Taranaki sheds every week.
SIZING LOGIC
Dairy load is a daytime profile. Putting PV on the shed roof cuts the gap between generation and consumption — less reliance on exporting cheap kWh and buying them back at retail.
Coastal farms punish weak mounts. Rails, edge zones, and penetrations are engineered for Taranaki wind and lateral rain, with conduit and labelling to Sinclair standard.
ON SITE
From the ridge you see the full story: long panel rows, corrugated iron, paddocks, and the ocean beyond. From the yard you see a working dairy — pens, collars, silo — with solar as part of the shed, not a bolt-on afterthought.
The inverter wall is the handover moment: isolators in a row, shutdown procedure readable at a glance, conduit clipped clean. Built to be serviced for decades.
SITE REALITY
Design starts from milking and plant hours — shed roof generation timed to when the farm is hungry.
Pungarehu weather eats weak mounts. Fixings and layout assume Tasman exposure.
Install staged around yard traffic, stock, and plant — not a closed construction site.
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Spec sheet for the Pungarehu dairy shed solar install — capacity, hardware, and key outcomes.
LOOKING AHEAD
Shed solar is a foundation for the farm’s energy future — monitoring on the phone, local after-sales when something needs a look, and headroom for battery storage when evening loads justify it. On the right sites, solar + battery can reduce grid-energy consumption by up to ~95%; we model that against real bills before recommending storage.
A coastal dairy shed earning from its own roof — arrays that look intentional from ridge and yard, a Sungrow wall install ready for handover, and a system built for Taranaki wind rather than a city brochure. Strong daytime offset now; battery is the lever when the farm wants to push toward near-full grid reduction (up to ~95% on well-matched sites).
