From Sheds to Cool Stores: The Best Farm Buildings for Solar in NZ
Running a farm in New Zealand comes with significant overheads, and one of the biggest is electricity. From powering milking sheds to running cool stores and lighting workshops, energy costs can quickly eat into margins. With power prices rising year after year, more farmers are asking whether solar is a realistic way to cut costs and build resilience.
The answer is yes and the best place to start is by targeting the farm buildings that use the most energy. In this article, we’ll explore the top candidates for solar on farms, what makes them ideal, and how the right system can support long-term savings and reliability.
Milking Sheds: High Daily Energy Use
Milking is one of the most energy-intensive processes on any dairy farm. Running twice a day, often in the early morning and evening, sheds consume large amounts of power for pumps, refrigeration, water heating, and lighting.
Installing solar panels on the shed roof allows farmers to offset these daily loads with renewable energy. Even better, hybrid systems with batteries can store excess daytime generation, ensuring reliable power for the evening milking and providing backup during outages.
For many dairy farms, milking sheds are the single biggest opportunity for solar savings.
Cool Stores: 24/7 Energy Demand
Fruit and vegetable growers, as well as dairy farms, often rely on cool stores to keep produce and milk fresh. Unlike other farm buildings that peak at certain times of the day, cool stores run continuously, making them a perfect match for solar.
Panels installed on the roof can supply clean power directly during the day, while battery storage ensures refrigeration remains uninterrupted at night or during power cuts. This reduces dependence on the grid and protects against costly product losses during outages.
Cool stores not only make strong candidates for solar but also benefit significantly from predictable, stable running costs over the long term.
Workshops: Tools, Pumps, and Lighting
Workshops are the engine room of many farms, supporting everything from machinery maintenance to pumping and general operations. While workshops might not run continuously like cool stores, they draw consistent power during daylight hours, when solar is at its peak.
Roof space is often ample on farm workshops, making installation straightforward. By offsetting daytime use, solar cuts down grid reliance and makes day-to-day operations more efficient.
Why These Buildings Work So Well
The common thread across sheds, cool stores, and workshops is that they are energy-hungry, predictable in their usage, and have large, accessible roof space. This makes them ideal candidates for solar because:
Their consistent energy demand aligns well with solar generation.
They often have minimal shading, which maximises efficiency.
They can support batteries for resilience and energy independence.
For farms, solar is not just about reducing bills. It’s about making sure operations continue even when the grid fails.
Beyond the Basics: Batteries and Backup
Farm operations cannot afford downtime, which is why pairing solar with batteries is such a strong option. Batteries store excess energy during the day and release it when needed, covering evening milking, refrigeration at night, or powering essential tools in workshops during outages.
For farms located in rural areas where outages are more common and repairs take longer, battery-backed solar provides not just savings but peace of mind.
A Note on Funding and Incentives
While the details are still developing, government and industry support for on-farm solar is growing. Farmers may also be able to take advantage of tax benefits like accelerated depreciation on solar assets, as well as emerging EECA initiatives. While these shouldn’t be the only reason to invest, they can help shorten the payback period and improve ROI.
Conclusion
Solar isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but for farms, it makes particular sense when applied to the buildings that consume the most energy: milking sheds, cool stores, and workshops. These spaces offer the best combination of high power demand, predictable usage, and suitable roof space.
By targeting these areas first, farmers can significantly reduce their electricity costs, improve resilience during outages, and future-proof their businesses.
Steel Solar & Electrical has experience designing and installing systems for rural properties across Auckland and beyond. If you’d like to understand what solar could do for your farm, we’re here to help you find the right fit.
