On a BC farm, solar is not just a bill reducer — it can be productive energy that powers irrigation, barns and cold storage, sometimes at sites where the grid does not reach. Agricultural loads are well suited to solar because many of them happen in daylight, but each application has its own sizing logic, and winter changes the equation.
Irrigation pumping
Solar pumping moves water during the day when it is needed most, and can reduce grid or diesel running costs. Sizing depends on pump power, daily water demand, lift and sun hours. For sites with reliable grid power, a grid-tied or hybrid arrangement may be simplest; for remote pumps, a dedicated solar pump can be more economical than extending a line.
Barns and cold storage
Solar can support barn loads and, with storage, cold storage that protects harvest value. Cold storage is a critical load — it must stay on through outages, so it tends to need storage and careful sizing rather than panels alone. The proposal states the loads that must be protected and for how long.
Off-grid and remote loads
For ranches, Gulf Islands properties and facilities where the grid is absent or unreliable, off-grid or hybrid systems power pumps, lights, communications and remote operations autonomously. Battery sizing is critical because there is no grid to fall back on, and winter sun is limited, so load data has to be honest and conservative.
Hybrid for farms with grid access
Where the grid is present, a hybrid system offsets daytime consumption and keeps essential loads on during outages — useful for farms that depend on refrigeration or water. The architecture is chosen against the farm's load profile and outage risk, not as a default.
Assessment for farms
A farm assessment starts with the loads that matter — pumps, barns, cold storage, lighting, communications — and their daily and seasonal pattern, plus the grid situation at the site. The proposal documents the production assumptions, storage sizing and the architecture recommended, with its reasoning.