850 kW Programme Across a Yorkshire Land-Based College — Teaching, Dairy, Equestrian
- System size
- 850 kW + 200 kWh battery + 8× EV chargers + tractor charging
- Annual saving
- £186,000
- Payback
- 5.4 years
- Location
- Yorkshire
Scenario
A land-based college in Yorkshire with 280 hectares of campus — including a 250-head dairy herd, equestrian centre, agricultural workshops, halls of residence, and main teaching block — operated at an annual electricity bill of £405,000 in 2025, with daytime baseload above 200 kW from livestock operations alone. Roof area available across seven buildings exceeded 9,000 sqm.
The newly appointed Sustainability Lead (formerly Estates Manager, with two CPD blocks in net zero strategy) commissioned a campus-wide feasibility study in March 2025. The AoC and EAUC Climate Action Roadmap mandate for a board-approved Climate Action Plan by end-2025 was the immediate driver; the £405k electricity bill was the structural driver.
What we delivered
Total programme: 850 kW PV + 200 kWh battery + 8 fast EV chargers + 22 kW tractor charging point
Distributed across seven buildings:
- Main teaching block: 220 kW (standing seam metal deck, south aspect, 16° pitch)
- Modern dairy building: 165 kW (composite-panel roof, east-west aspect, ridge-line mounting strategy)
- Indoor riding arena: 130 kW (profile-deck portal-frame, south aspect, vapour barrier preserved)
- Grain store: 95 kW (large unbroken south-facing slope)
- Agricultural workshop: 75 kW (split across two workshop sheds)
- Halls of residence: 55 kW (south-aspect tiled pitched roof)
- Agritech building: 40 kW (newer 2018 build, ballast-free on flat membrane)
- Battery storage: 200 kWh in main plant room
- EV charging: 8 × 22 kW fast chargers in staff and student car parks
- Tractor charging: 22 kW DC fast charger in workshop yard
Two separate G99 DNO applications — one for the farm meter, one for the academic campus meter. Both accepted within the 18-week window.
Funding
Blended Salix + PSDS structure to maximise capital recovery:
- Salix Decarbonisation Loan (60%): £456,000 over 8 years at £57,000/year repayment
- PSDS Phase 4 (40%): £304,000 capital grant — paired with an air-source heat pump install in the halls of residence funded under the same PSDS bid (combined carbon score significantly above PV-only threshold)
- Total project capex: £760,000 at £895/kW (excellent unit cost given the multi-building rural complexity)
- Modelled annual energy savings: £186,000
- Net cash-flow positive year one: £129,000/year
The PSDS Phase 4 bid was scored on combined tCO2e saved per pound — the heat pump + PV bundle scored 31% higher than a pure-PV bid would have scored standalone.
Programme
Phased across two summer break windows + autumn-spring shoulder weeks (livestock operations don’t have summer breaks — they have lower-disruption windows around calving and lambing schedules):
- Summer 2025 (window 1): Main teaching block + grain store + workshops (lowest livestock-operation impact)
- Autumn 2025 (window 2): Riding arena (between equestrian seasons) + dairy building (carefully sequenced around twice-daily milking, hygiene protocols agreed with the college’s farm manager)
- Spring 2026 (window 3): Halls of residence + agritech building + battery + EV/tractor charging infrastructure
NFU Mutual insurance protocols followed throughout — particularly on the dairy and equestrian buildings. Animal welfare daily check-ins between site supervisor and farm manager.
Compliance
- Permitted development on all agricultural buildings under Class A Part 14 of the GPDO 2015 — no planning permission required
- KCSIE 2025 safeguarding — 16-19 BTEC Agriculture, Equine, and Land Management cohorts on site; all installers DBS-cleared
- Asbestos R&D survey on pre-2000 buildings — clear on the buildings selected for PV
- Structural engineer survey on every roof — all passed for rail-mounted systems
- DEFRA / Natural England consultation not required (no SSSI or AONB adjacency)
- ESFA Post-16 Audit Code — Salix and PSDS bids both auditable
Outcomes
- Year one actual generation: 815,000 kWh versus modelled 780,000 kWh (+4.5%)
- Year one actual energy savings: £196,000 versus modelled £186,000 (+5.4%)
- Self-consumption rate: 76% (driven by 24/7 dairy operations + halls of residence baseload + EV/tractor charging)
- Featured in the EAUC FE Climate Roadmap launch event as exemplar
- Agritech curriculum cohort designed the monitoring dashboard as their synoptic project — the dashboard is now in production at three other land-based colleges
- Local press coverage in Farmers Weekly, Yorkshire Post, and the EAUC quarterly bulletin
- DEFRA Future Farming Resilience scheme cited the project in a 2026 best-practice round-up
What the Sustainability Lead said
“Land-based colleges have the strongest solar economics of any FE sub-sector — large roofs, 24/7 farm load, and 16-19 BTEC and T-Level Agriculture cohorts who get the install as a teaching resource immediately. We could have done a smaller, simpler project. But once the heat-pump-plus-PV bundle scored on PSDS we built up to the full 850 kW. Net cash-flow positive £129k a year from year one funds three new agritech teaching posts.”