A DAIRY farm is set to save more than £3,000 a year, with an astounding payback period of under two years, thanks to changes made to its wash-down system through specialist renewable energy consultants, Greenio.

The Greenio team worked with the Sowray family at its Sheriff Hutton farm, in North Yorkshire, to specify, supply and install a 16-kilowatt HT Daikin air source heat pump, with a 150-litre hot water cylinder and new immersion.

The farm will see a return on its investment within two years through a reduction in heating costs, from £3,300 a year to an anticipated £943. The farm will also see earnings from the Renewable Heat Incentive – where the government pays a business for each KWH it produces – at an expected £783 per annum.

Anna Wooster, managing director of Greenio, which was set up in 2013 and is based in Lincolnshire, said: “The work at the Sowray Farm is the ideal example of how we can help agricultural businesses through the intelligent application of renewable energy. The Sowray team can expect to make savings of over £57,148 across the next 20 years which demonstrates the significant impact an investment in renewable energy can have.

“Air source heat pumps use a fan to draw energy from the outside air to start the refrigerant boiling process – delivering high efficiency hot water and low temperature heating outputs. The result is that our customers enjoy the benefits of a system that delivers significant savings in fuel costs and carbon emissions compared with fossil fuel installations.

“The project was a pilot scheme for us as the air source heat pump had never been used in this way before. Because of this, manufacturers Daikin donated the kit to the farm for free to enable us to trial it – which has turned out to be a huge success.”

Matthew Sowray, one of the owners of Sowray Farms and the fifth generation to manage the business, said: “The entire milking system needs to be completely washed down and flushed through at least twice a day. For hygiene reasons, heated water is better for this process. Previously, we would use hot water in the morning – and cold water in the evenings – due to the cost implications. Thanks to the new pump installed, we can now afford to use hot water on both occasions.

“Becoming environmentally-friendly is really important to us as a family and a business. We previously installed solar panels and this has worked well for us in terms of return on investment so we started to consider other renewable options.

“The Greenio team was really knowledgeable and helped us to decide where we could make the most impact on our energy use and through which product. We’re now set to save thousands of pounds each year while reducing our carbon footprint. It’s a win-win situation.”

To learn more about this project, or to find out how you can improve your carbon footprint and save money, contact Greenio on 0800 810 0565. Further information can be found at www.greenio.co.uk.