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Large-scale opportunities exist on poultry farms to save energy, introduce renewables and improve profitability and carbon efficiency – but farmers are waiting for a crucial support scheme to open before making decisions, participants in the Energy in Poultry conference and exhibition said last Friday. Some 260 people attended the event in Teagasc’s Ballyhaise agricultural college, many more than organisers expected.
Co Armagh farmer Brendan Daly, who has 360,000 broiler chickens in 12 houses, switched from gas brooders to a wood pellet boiler system as a result of encouragement from his processor Moy Park and support from Northern Ireland’s Renewable Heat Incentive scheme. “It was a no brainer,” he said, with RHI payments offseting the cost of pellets to give “free heat”.
Although the upcoming Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) for the Republic will be capped to avoid overuse reported in Northern Ireland, Brendan said it would be better on the scale of a poultry farm.
One downside is the need for maintenance, with farm staff required to clean out ashes and soot regularly and a manufacturer service due every 2,000 hours. However, burying 20t to 30t of pellets generates only “a small wheelbarrowfull of ash”, Brendan said.
In addition, “bird performance was widely improved”, he added – partly thanks to more generous use of cheaper heat combined with ventilation.
Adrian Gunn, farm adviser with poultry processor Manor Farm, said there was an additional benefit from switching away from direct gas heating inside the sheds, which releases carbon dioxide and moisture from gas combustion. He reckoned that 80% of his suppliers currently use direct heat systems and are awaiting the SSRH before they make any changes.
“The message they’re getting is that if you invest before the scheme opens, you won’t be supported,” he said.
Installers of energy equipment at the event confirmed high interest from poultry farmers for biomass and heat pump heating systems, but no decisions yet.
While farmers can already apply for a grant on a heat pump, which runs on electricity and can be partly powered by solar panels, Jane Foley of Co Tipperary biomass boiler manufacturer Woodco said that upcoming financial support will be significantly higher for her products (see below). “A 200kW boiler running 35% of the time may receive around €26,000/year for 15 years – that’s around €400,000, a lot more than a 30% grant for a heat pump,” she said.
Teagasc energy specialist Barry Caslin said that the SSRH scheme would hit a “sweet spot” for poultry farms as the highest tariff will be paid for the amounts of heat they typically use.
Barry added that in addition to heating, a typical 26,000-bird poultry house also costs €6,300 and emits 15.3t of carbon dioxide each year in electricity for uses including lighting. While some improvements such as replacing lights with LED pay for themselves within one year, generating renewable electricity from wind or solar can be trickier.
Although there are currently no incentives for farm-scale wind generation, Sean Ganley of small turbine manufacturer C&F said a turbine could pay for itself in five to eight years if the site’s exposure to wind is right. For solar, figures shown by Barry returned a payback in over eight years, but this could be reduced to five with a 40% TAMS grant currently available to poultry farmers (Table 1).
Ifac partner Ciaran McCabe said saving 1% or 2% on costs in the poultry business could make a big difference to profitability, and energy is the second largest cost after feed. All speakers agreed that energy efficiency should come first. Adrian Gunn said the first thing to look at was roof insulation, then gable ends and finally heating sources.
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