Burnholme Dairy: 320kWp REPF + Full Expensing 2024

The farm

Burnholme is a 240-hectare mixed dairy farm running 280 Holstein-Friesians, with a robotic parlour, three Lely Astronaut milking robots, ice-bank cooling and a 1,200-tonne grain dryer that runs intensively August–October. Annual electricity demand had climbed past 480,000 kWh after the third robot was installed in 2022.

The brief

Mark Burnholme had budgeted £180k for a 200kWp rooftop install on the parlour and shed roofs. After speaking to the local LEP about funding, he was directed to North Yorkshire County Council’s REPF allocation and onwards to us.

What we did

The first call established that a 200kWp system was undersized for the load profile — the robotic parlour and ice-bank cooling run continuously, and the grain dryer adds a major Q3 peak. Half-hourly meter analysis showed self-consumption headroom up to 380kWp before export ratios got economically painful. We rebuilt the proposal as 320kWp + 200kWh battery storage, costed at £278k.

The REPF application went through Ryedale’s economic development team. Rural funds prize productivity outcomes, not just decarbonisation. We anchored the application narrative on three measurable outcomes: a 28% reduction in farm-gate electricity unit costs, a £14,000 cost saving in late-summer grain drying allowing competitive contract drying for two neighbouring farms (creating two seasonal jobs), and 142 tCO2e/year of avoided emissions linked to the farm’s Arla milk supply contract.

The numbers

• Headline capex: £278,000 (£218k PV + £60k BESS)
• REPF grant awarded: £62,400 (40% of eligible PV capex, capped at £62,400)
• Full Expensing tax relief: £53,900 (25% of £215,600 net of grant)
• Net cost to client: £161,700
• Annual savings (electricity displacement + SEG export): £42,800
• Annual carbon savings: 142 tCO2e
• Payback: 5.2 years

What was hard

The REPF allocation at Ryedale was being depleted faster than expected — by application time, only £180k of the council’s annual budget remained, with two other applicants in train. We had to compress the application to 4 weeks instead of the usual 6, and prioritised the productivity narrative over a fuller technical write-up. The award decision came back in 5 weeks at the requested amount.

The roof orientation was the second challenge. Burnholme’s parlour faces ENE, which gives strong morning yield but underperforms on the standard 30°-pitch SE assumption used in most yield calculators. We modelled the actual orientation in PVsyst and used a 12° tilt to optimise summer performance — the result was a final yield 8% above the original installer’s estimate.

What happened next

The system was commissioned in June 2024. First-year data shows 295,000 kWh produced (vs. 290,000 modelled) and self-consumption averaging 78% — below the 82% modelled, which we attribute to a wetter spring slowing grain drying.

Mark has since asked us to scope a second project: a 180kWp ground-mount on a south-facing pasture corner, with a view to powering an EV charging hub for visiting milk tankers and farm visitors. We are tracking a follow-on REPF window for early 2026.

Why it worked

The productivity narrative was decisive. A pure decarbonisation pitch would have sat in the queue with every other rural solar bid; tying solar to a measurable jobs and contract-drying outcome got the application to the top of the council’s scoring. REPF assessors are economic development officers, not energy experts — write to their KPIs, not the carbon ones, and the bids land.