Solar for poultry farms and grain operations: pick the meter before you pick the panels

Solar for poultry farms can make sense in Kentucky, but the answer turns on timing more than panels. A broiler farm’s electricity goes mostly to ventilation fans, and those fans work hardest on hot summer afternoons, about when panels produce the most. A grain operation’s big electric load comes in fall, when output is falling, and the dryer keeps running after dark. The same array can be a good fit on one meter and a weak one on the meter next to it.

So start with a question most proposals skip: which meter will the array connect to, and what runs behind that meter while the sun is up? Under the net metering tariffs most Kentucky utilities now offer new customers, electricity you use the moment it’s made saves your full retail energy charge, while electricity you export usually earns a lower credit. On a farm, the cheapest kilowatt-hour is the one used at the moment it’s made.

Solar for poultry farms starts with the fans

Researchers at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture monitored a modern broiler house for 11 months. Ventilation fans accounted for 88% of the electricity demand over four flocks of heavy broilers, and they were the biggest contributor to peak demand. Electricity cost per metric ton of chicken ran from about $5 for winter flocks to $22 for summer flocks. Lighting, after the move to LEDs, is now a small share.

Two things follow for solar:

• The fan load lines up with solar output. Tunnel ventilation ramps up with heat, and the hottest part of a Kentucky summer day falls inside the solar production window.
• Solar doesn’t touch your heating bill. Brooding and winter heat in broiler houses come mostly from propane, or natural gas where a line runs, not electricity. A University of Georgia Extension survey of tunnel-ventilated houses found heating fuel and electricity together made up nearly 60% of growers’ variable operating costs. Split your energy spending into propane and electricity first. Solar only works on the second.

Grain drying: a fall load on a summer resource

University of Kentucky agricultural engineers have noted that most Kentucky farms dry grain with liquid propane plus electricity, with natural gas used where a line is available. In a heated-air dryer, the burner supplies the heat. The electric part is the fans, augers and legs. In-bin and natural-air drying shift more of the work to electric fans. One University of Nebraska example used a single 10.5-horsepower fan and about 2,300–3,700 kWh to dry one bin, depending on how the bin was filled.

The problem is the calendar. We ran the National Laboratory of the Rockies’ PVWatts calculator (the lab was NREL until December 2025) for a 40 kW south-facing array near Hopkinsville, using typical-year weather. It estimates about 1,384 kWh per kilowatt of panels per year, and the monthly shape is not kind to dryers:

• October output is about 80% of July’s.
• November output is about 60% of July’s.
• A dryer running through the night gets nothing from the array for roughly half of every day.

An illustrative farm: one array, two meters

To show why the meter matters, we modeled a made-up farm hour by hour. Every load figure below is an assumption we chose for illustration. None of it describes a real farm or any utility’s tariff.

• Poultry meter: four broiler houses using 80,000 kWh a year. There’s a 5.5 kW base load all year for minimum ventilation, lights, feed lines and controls, plus fan load that rises with outdoor temperature. It peaks near 29 kW.
• Grain and shop meter: 30,360 kWh a year. That’s a 1 kW base for aeration, the shop and bin lights, plus a 15 kW drying load that runs around the clock for 60 days starting September 10.
• Array: 40 kW DC, about 33 kW AC, south-facing at a 20° tilt, with PVWatts hourly output for the Hopkinsville area. That’s 55,370 kWh a year.
• Prices: an illustrative 12¢ per kWh retail energy charge and an illustrative 6¢ per kWh export credit.

For each hour, solar output first serves the load on its own meter, and anything left over is exported. Figures are rounded, so months may not sum exactly to the year.

Month	Solar output (kWh)	Poultry load	Used on site, poultry meter	Grain and shop load	Used on site, grain meter
Jan	3,270	4,170	1,190	740	280
Feb	3,450	3,730	1,260	670	270
Mar	4,630	4,220	1,650	740	340
Apr	4,910	4,960	2,470	720	350
May	5,630	6,880	3,590	740	400
Jun	5,700	9,890	4,950	720	410
Jul	5,760	11,100	5,160	740	410
Aug	5,620	12,230	5,330	740	380
Sep	5,170	8,520	4,110	8,280	2,930
Oct	4,590	6,070	2,830	11,900	3,600
Nov	3,460	4,060	1,250	3,600	1,140
Dec	3,190	4,170	1,290	740	270
Year	55,370	80,000	35,090	30,360	10,770

Result (first year, illustrative prices)	Array on poultry meter	Array on grain meter
Share of output used on site	63%	19%
kWh exported	20,280	44,610
Value of on-site use at 12¢	$4,211	$1,292
Value of exports at 6¢	$1,217	$2,676
Total first-year value	$5,428	$3,968

Same panels, same sunshine, but on the grain meter the array is worth about $1,460 a year less, roughly 27%, purely because of where it connects. Even in October, the dryer’s peak month, the array covers only about 30% of the grain meter’s load, because the dryer keeps running after sunset.

There are limits to a model like this. Real fan load follows flock age, house conditions and downtime between flocks, not just temperature. Your co-op’s actual energy charge and export credit will differ from our round numbers. Hourly modeling is also a little generous, because the meter tracks flows continuously and short dips in production don’t average out. The method still holds: get 12 months of real usage for every meter, interval data if the co-op has it, and run the match before you pick a site.

Meters, co-ops and the 45 kW line

Kentucky’s net metering statute, as amended by SB 100 in 2019, covers solar and other eligible systems with a rated capacity of no more than 45 kW. For new customers, electricity that flows from your system to the utility, as measured at the meter, earns a dollar-denominated bill credit. The rate is set by the Public Service Commission through ratemaking. Customers already on net metering when the new rates took effect keep their original terms for 25 years. Our Kentucky net metering explainer covers the background.

Most poultry and grain farms buy power from a distribution co-op, not an investor-owned utility. That could be one of East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s 16 owner-members, one of Big Rivers’ three members in western Kentucky, or a co-op served by TVA. Rules, export credits and rate schedules differ from co-op to co-op. Ask yours, in writing:

1. Which tariff would a net-metered system on this account take, and what is the current export credit?
2. How do you measure the 45 kW limit, on the inverter’s AC rating or the panels’ DC rating?
3. Do you offer any meter aggregation across accounts on the same farm?
4. What applies if a system is larger than 45 kW?
5. Is there a planned rate case that could change export credits?

Demand charges: the part of the bill solar may not touch

Depending on size, a farm account may be billed on a simple energy rate or on a commercial rate that includes a demand charge. A demand charge is based on your highest short-interval draw in the month, often a 15-minute average. The same Arkansas research team found demand charges can make up close to 50% of the monthly electricity bill for some farms. The fans set that peak.

Solar is a poor tool for demand charges. If a thunderstorm rolls through at 3 p.m. on a 95° day, the fans stay at full speed while the array drops to a fraction of its rating, and that 15 minutes can set the month’s bill. Our illustrative farm had 22 summer hours with fan load above 20 kW and solar output below 5 kW. Some co-op rates also carry a ratchet, where one month’s peak sets a minimum charge for months afterward. Read the rate schedule before you credit solar with any demand savings. Load management, like keeping feed motors and well-pump refills from overlapping fan peaks, may do more for that line of the bill than panels.

Roof or ground: questions to settle first

We don’t make these technical calls. We help you get them answered before a site is picked.

Poultry house roofs

• Can the structure carry the added load? Only a licensed engineer should answer that, after looking at the actual building.
• How many years does the roof have left? Removing and reinstalling an array to re-roof costs real money.
• What does your grower contract or your integrator’s house specifications say about roof-mounted equipment?
• What will your farm insurer charge, and what will it cover?
• Tunnel fans push dust and ammonia out the exhaust end. Ask installers whether the modules and their warranty cover ammonia exposure, and how panels near the exhaust would be kept clean.

Ground mounts

• Which ground? Cropland, pasture and odd corners carry different opportunity costs, and as of 2026 different eligibility for federal programs.
• How far is it from the meter? Trenching and wire runs are line items to compare across bids.
• Who mows, and who fixes the fence?

If a developer has also offered to lease the same ground, compare the two paths side by side. Our farmland lease terms guide and the Christian County poultry farm scenario walk through that trade-off.

REAP and other money: what changed

USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program used to anchor many farm solar budgets. It changed in stages:

• August 2025. USDA said applications with ground-mount solar larger than 50 kW, or ground-mount systems that can’t document historical energy use, would no longer qualify for REAP guaranteed loans or get priority points for REAP grants.
• March 31, 2026. A Rural Development stakeholder announcement discontinued processing of pending REAP grant applications, as the later rule itself recounts.
• October 2026. A final rule with comment period rebuilt the grant program. Projects must be fully built and operating before you apply, with 12 months of production data and 12 months of pre-installation data. Ground-mount solar on certified cropland is ineligible. So is solar that can’t document commensurate historical energy use, and any solar system with a component made in a country listed as a foreign adversary, with an exception for projects installed before the rule’s publication. Awards are competitive, and funding isn’t assured even for eligible projects.

The rule points applicants to the REAP guaranteed loan program for up-front costs. Whether a lender will close one for your project is a question for the lender and USDA Rural Development’s Kentucky office. The new rules are also being challenged in federal court in a lawsuit filed in September 2026.

Federal commercial solar tax credits also carry construction and placed-in-service deadlines and sourcing rules now. Our commercial credit timeline lays them out. This is general information. Your CPA should confirm what applies to your operation.

As of November 1, 2026

REAP is now governed by the October 2026 rule while a lawsuit challenges USDA’s solar restrictions, and further changes are possible. Kentucky export credits are set tariff by tariff and can change in rate cases. Check both before you decide.

What we’d do

1. Pull 12–24 months of bills for every meter on the farm: houses, dryer, shop and home. Ask the co-op for interval data.
2. Split energy spending into propane and electricity, then split electricity into energy and demand charges. Solar addresses part of one slice.
3. Model each candidate meter hour by hour, using your co-op’s actual retail energy charge and export credit, and keep the array within that meter’s daytime load.
4. Send the structural, electrical and contract questions to a licensed engineer, a licensed electrician, your integrator and your attorney.
5. Price the project without REAP. If it only works with a grant, it doesn’t work yet.

That’s the core of a Commercial Feasibility Study for a farm. If you’re weighing on-farm solar against a lease offer, or just want to know which meter to start with, our farms page explains how we work with farm families. We don’t sell panels, we don’t install, and we work for you.