Industries
Solar and Battery for Indoor and Vertical Farms
Indoor and vertical farms run hard around the clock, and the power bill often rivals the cost of seed, labour and water combined. Solar, battery storage and smart energy management can take a big bite out of those running costs while making your supply more reliable.
Why indoor and vertical farms are power-hungry
Growing indoors means replacing the sun, the weather and the seasons with equipment, and all of that equipment runs on electricity. Unlike many businesses that quieten down overnight, a vertical farm often draws a steady, substantial load around the clock.
That consistent demand is actually good news. A predictable, high-energy load is far easier to design a solar and battery system around than a business with big, unpredictable peaks.
- LED grow lights running long daily cycles across multiple tiers
- HVAC, dehumidification and climate control to hold tight conditions
- Pumps, dosing and circulation for hydroponic or aeroponic systems
- Refrigeration and cold storage for harvest and packing
- Monitoring, automation and control systems that never switch off
What solar can and can't do for a 24/7 grow
Rooftop solar produces during daylight hours, which may not line up neatly with a farm that runs lights overnight. On its own, solar will offset a good share of your daytime climate control, pumps and any daytime lighting, but it won't cover the full 24-hour picture.
That's why we usually look at solar and battery together for indoor growers. The solar does the generating, and the battery shifts that energy to when you actually need it, including through the night.
The right system size depends entirely on your roof, your load profile and your tariff. We scale from 6.6kW through to multi-megawatt installs, so the design follows the operation rather than the other way around.
Where batteries and AI energy arbitrage come in
A battery stores your solar for later, but paired with smart control it does something more valuable. AI-driven energy arbitrage charges the battery when power is cheap, then discharges or exports when prices are high.
For a farm on a time-of-use tariff, that can make a real difference, because you're no longer forced to buy expensive grid power during peak periods to run your overnight lighting and climate systems. The system makes those decisions automatically based on your tariff and conditions.
How much this helps depends on your specific tariff, network and usage pattern, which is exactly what a site review is for.
Reliability and protecting the crop
In an indoor farm, a power interruption isn't just an inconvenience. Losing climate control, lighting or pumps for the wrong stretch can damage or lose an entire crop cycle.
A properly configured battery can provide backup for critical loads, keeping the essentials running through grid outages and giving you time to respond. We design around which systems you can't afford to lose rather than trying to back up everything.
- Keep climate control and circulation running during outages
- Protect sensitive growing stages from supply interruptions
- Prioritise critical loads so backup capacity goes where it matters
Planning an install around a working farm
Indoor farms are tightly controlled environments, so the install has to work around your operation without disrupting the grow. Our in-house team handles the solar, battery and electrical work directly, with no subcontractors, which keeps the job coordinated and accountable.
We're CEC and SAA accredited and work Australia-wide, across sites from vineyards to large industrial rooftops like the 415kW system at DB Santasalo in Bulli. The same principles apply to a controlled-environment farm: understand the load, design to it, and install cleanly.
- Available roof or ground-mount area for solar
- Your detailed 24-hour load and seasonal variation
- Tariff structure and demand charges
- Which systems need backup and for how long
- Future expansion plans for additional grow space
The next step
Every indoor and vertical farm runs differently, so the only way to know what solar, battery and energy arbitrage can do for yours is to look at your actual site, roof and power data.
If you'd like a clear picture of what's possible for your operation, get in touch for a site review and we'll work through the numbers specific to your farm. This is general information, not financial advice, and real savings always depend on your site, tariff and network.
An indoor farm is one of the best-matched loads for solar and battery, because you're running a steady, high-energy operation that a well-designed system can feed day and night.
Want the numbers for your site?
We design, install and deliver commercial solar, battery and AI-driven energy systems Australia-wide — in-house, no subcontractors. A site review models your real load and tariff to show what's actually worth it.
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