CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Solar panels on the potato storehouse is an excellent investment after 25 years, the installation can still yield 80 percent of the starting value. We can even guarantee this for all the solar panels we’ve installed’, the fitter emphasises. What also influences production is the maintenance and especially the annual cleaning of the panels. That can also produce a few extra percent kWh. Saman Group offers special maintenance and cleaning contracts for this purpose. Good roof position for maximum electricity yield ’If you want to install solar panels during or after building a new storehouse, it ‘s good to take a few things into account’, tells sales advisor Johan Flikweert of Hanse-Staalbouw. One of the special points to watch is the position of the sloping roof. ‘The best direction is the one towards the maximum solar yield, which is south/southeast. It makes a difference of a few percent of generated electricity and that’s always a bonus. For large systems from 50,000 kWh onwards, this may easily be an extra 1,000 Kwh p.a. Usually, the roofs of the modern potato storehouses have very shallow slopes, so that even a slightly less advantageous position may easily be good enough for the installation of solar panels. When we’re asked to advise on the choice of roofing sheet, we would recommend steel plate instead of corrugated iron, because they’re easier for attaching the panels. Furthermore, we use special self-tapping screws because they provide extra grip. Depending on the size of the storage and the grid distances of the frames, we advise using a heavier profile for the steel frames. We also use thicker material for steel roof purlins, but always in consultation with our constructor. At the De Bruijne farm, we used 1.5 mm thick steel instead of 1.25 mm. The extra costs were about 2,000 euros.’ Recoup investment quickly According to De Bruijne, this is an amount that, together with investment of the solar panels, can be easily recouped. In 2012, the total amount for 132 panels was 40,000 euros, less the very COMPANY INFORMATION: DE BRUIJNE AGRO The partnership firm of Marco and Meeuw de Bruijne comprises a crop farm with a total surface of approx. 100 hectares in Kats, at the foot of the well-known Zeeland Bridge in North-Beveland. At the same time the Partnership carries out work for third parties with activities such as combine-harvesting and the turning and pressing of fibre flax. De Bruijne Agro applies a relatively longterm cropping plan with crops such as sugar beet, fibre flax, winter wheat, grass seed, spinach, rape seed, seed onions and consumption potatoes. The latter crop uses up about a quarter of the cropping plan. This year, the brothers are growing the Agria, Markies and Victoria varieties. The entire harvest is stored in their own storehouse with a total capacity of 2,000 tons. When talking about alternative energy, the Partnership has invested in solar energy but also in wind energy. Together with a few other crop farmers, De Bruijne Agro has a share in several windmills in North-Beveland. Potato grower Marco de Bruijne (left), together with Daniël Lodders (centre) and Johan Flikweert, was looking for the most suitable new potato storehouse and a power supply via solar panels. generous subsidy. As an entrepreneur in the Netherlands, you can apply for subsidies such as this one (various provinces and other subsidy providers still have funds available), but there’s also the possibility of tax-deductible expenses, Lodders adds. For example, there’s an Energy Investment Allowance and a Small-scale Investment Allowance, both of which you can use. The Energy Investment Allowance allows you to deduct 41.5 percent of the investment in solar panels from your annual profits. The advantage does depend on the legal form of your company and the amount of the operating profit and varies between 8 and 22 percent. In order to apply for this scheme, it’s important that you submit your application for the Energy Investment Allowance within three months of the purchase of the panels. Furthermore, entrepreneurs may also use the wellknown, small-scale investment allowance that they’re already using for other operating assets, which makes a maximum of 28 percent of the investment deductable from the operating profit. However, the amount also depends on any other investments in the same financial year. Asbestos off, solar panels on In the De Bruijne’s case, the panels are placed on the roof of a completely new storehouse. Many crop farmers are currently also replacing (asbestos) roofs from their old stores. Especially in the case of asbestos, there are various subsidy possibilities. There are provinces with funds, but also national government and agricultural organisations that have funds available. A general tax measure which all entrepreneurs can use who are removing asbestos roofs and replacing them with solar panels is the VAMIL tax scheme (random depreciation of environmental investments). This scheme makes it possible to deduct 75 percent of the investment from the operating profit at any given moment. ● Leo Hanse Potato World 2015 • number 1 17 Pagina 16
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