11 kW Off-Grid System at a Dairy Farm

On a livestock farm a power cut is not a problem you can postpone: milking runs to a schedule and refrigeration must never stop. This operation near Kaman sits beyond the grid, so the system was built to run without one from the outset — 16 high-efficiency TommaTech panels generate through the day, an 11 kW off-grid inverter feeds the farm’s own network and the surplus builds up in the energy storage system. Milking machines, refrigeration and lighting draw straight from the panels by day and from the battery in the evening; the farm pays no electricity bill.

The panels were laid out in rows across both pitches of the trapezoidal metal roof. The structure is fixed with sealed clamps rather than drilled through the sheeting. Splitting the array across two pitches spreads generation from morning to evening instead of concentrating it on one orientation — a choice that eases the load on storage and, in an off-grid system, goes straight to battery life. The inverter and battery sit in the plant space directly below the roof; cabling and the protection panel were installed within the same project.

Lighting and security completed the installation: 1200 W solar floodlights and solar-powered security cameras keep the site lit and monitored at night without a separate supply. On land with no grid connection, every step from generation through storage to consumption stays inside the same system.