Multi-Site Agricultural Cooperative

This pioneering project was designed to identify the benefits of optimising clean energy systems for a large, multi-site agricultural cooperative. Using Joulen’s PARIS smart software, the project revealed opportunities to maximise the value of the cooperative’s renewable investments, alongside improving long-term operational efficiencies and energy independence.

Joulen supported a large farming cooperative to identify the benefits of a decarbonised, smart energy system integrated across its diverse network of sites. The goals were to optimise and maximise renewable energy assets, reduce electricity consumption and costs, and explore potential revenue generation through advanced energy-sharing models.

The project was executed in stages, with the PARIS platform playing a central role in optimising the value of the project’s clean energy system investments. This AI-powered software combined advanced forecasting and intelligent optimisation to highlight the financial and environmental returns offered at each stage. The results demonstrated that smart, clean energy systems could significantly enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and lower emissions across multiple sites.

Each stage of the project explored different levels of energy optimisation and sharing across the network. Firstly, a comprehensive data analysis covering the cooperative’s network of farms, retail outlets, and factories. Using the PARIS platform, Joulen assessed each site’s energy consumption patterns and potential for energy self-generation. Using this, the system explored the financial impact of installing renewable energy assets like solar PV, wind turbines, and battery storage at individual sites.

In the second stage, PARIS modelled the benefits of synergising energy between sites across the grid, where the surplus energy from one site is shared to meet demand at another. This energy sharing was optimised by the integration of a community with a shared electricity contract and power purchase agreement (PPA) agreement for excess generation, as well as exploring potential further revenues from network services.

With PARIS designed to optimise savings and efficiencies at each stage, this AI-powered system ensured that all scenarios for energy generation, usage, storage, and sharing were comprehensively assessed. This ensured all available benefits were identified to maximise the cooperative’s return on its renewable investments. 

The project highlighted that the adoption of renewables, battery storage, and PARIS AI software offered substantial and long-term cost savings and carbon reductions. It also demonstrated the feasibility of large-scale energy optimisation across a diverse network of sites. 

The project projected significant cost-saving opportunities by reducing reliance on grid energy.  Stage 1 projected a total savings of €16.4 million across all sites, with grid consumption reduced by an average of 30%. Stage 2’s energy-sharing model further enhanced these savings, adding €2 million in benefits and cutting grid consumption by an additional 9%. The smart integration of renewable energy and battery storage also offered greater operational control of energy, reducing reliance on the grid and mitigating exposure to rising energy costs.

Beyond the financial impact, the project showed a significant potential to reduce carbon emissions. An estimated 1.7 million kgCO2e could be saved annually, helping to advance the cooperative’s decarbonisation goals through smart energy management solutions.

The PARIS platform was critical in maximising these benefits by enabling real-time monitoring and decision-making for energy consumption, storage, and sharing across the diverse network of sites. The findings of the project provided a compelling model for multi-site businesses looking to reduce grid dependence, increase revenue, and decarbonise while taking ownership of their own clean energy generation.

This collaborative project involved key stakeholders from Joulen and the cooperative. Joulen led the project’s energy optimisation efforts, providing the technical expertise and analysis necessary for identifying cost-saving opportunities across the multiple sites. This involved working closely with the cooperative’s energy management team, who were committed to reducing its electricity consumption and enhancing its sustainability practices through this project.

Joulen provides energy optimisation in Great Britain and Ireland, and will be launching soon in Spain, Italy, and the United States. For more information, click here.