Solar PPA for poultry farms

2026 indicative PPA profile

Typical system size	150-800kWp
Year-1 tariff	11-14 p/kWh
Year-1 saving	£18k-£100k
Parent sector	Farms & Agriculture

Ventilation fans that never switch off

The single biggest electrical load on a modern poultry unit is air. Broiler and layer houses run banks of extraction and circulation fans continuously to hold temperature, humidity and ammonia inside welfare limits, and that demand climbs steeply through the warmer months — exactly the stretch of the year when a solar array is working hardest. Layer over the top the controlled lighting programmes that regulate growth and lay, plus the heating that broods young chicks, and the result is a near-constant daytime draw that behind-the-meter generation matches almost line for line.

Roof area is the grower's advantage

Few commercial buildings present roof runs like a poultry shed. A single house can stretch a hundred metres, and a multi-shed site offers thousands of square metres of unbroken, low-pitch cladding all facing the same way — close to ideal for a large, uniform array with a low installed cost per kWp. That geometry is why poultry systems scale comfortably to 150–800 kWp, and why keeping the panels on the roof, rather than on ground that raises biosecurity and vermin worries, is usually the cleaner choice.

• Fan load rises with outdoor temperature, tracking solar output
• Identical shed roofs drive down the price per kWp installed
• Roof-mounting leaves the range, litter store and feed bins undisturbed

Turning roof into a no-capital deal

Under a power purchase agreement the array is funded and owned by the provider, so a grower with capital already tied up in birds, feed and housing pays only a fixed rate — commonly 11–14 p/kWh — for the solar electricity the site consumes. Across a large multi-house operation that can strip £18k–£100k off annual energy costs. See what moves that rate on our PPA pricing page, weigh a PPA against buying the system outright in our side-by-side comparison, and place poultry in context on the agricultural solar hub.