Agricultural Cooperative
Joulen Flex modelled, then orchestrated, energy optimisation across a farming cooperative's farms, retail outlets and factories, turning a scattered set of sites into one coordinated energy system.
- £16.4m
- Projected savings identified across all sites
- 30%
- Average reduction in grid consumption
- £2m
- Further benefits from inter-site energy sharing
- 1.7m kgCO2e
- Estimated annual carbon savings
Challenge
The cooperative's sites varied hugely in energy profile, from farms with on-site generation potential to retail outlets and factories with steady grid demand. Each site, considered on its own, had room to reduce consumption and cost. But optimising site by site would only ever capture part of the available value.
The cooperative wanted to maximise its renewable energy assets, cut electricity consumption and cost across the network, explore new revenue opportunities through energy-sharing between sites, and make real progress against its decarbonisation goals, all without a way to see or act on the portfolio as a single, connected system.
Approach
Joulen deployed its Joulen Flex service to orchestrate energy optimisation across the cooperative's sites, delivered in two stages.
Stage 1: site-level optimisation
Joulen carried out a comprehensive data analysis of consumption patterns and self-generation potential at each location, modelling the financial impact of installing solar PV, wind turbines, and battery storage site by site. This gave the cooperative a clear, evidence-based view of where on-site generation and storage would pay off, and by how much.
Stage 2: inter-site energy synergy
Building on that foundation, PARIS modelled how surplus generation at one location could supply demand at another, sharing energy across the network rather than treating each site in isolation. This was integrated with community electricity contracts and power purchase agreements (PPAs), turning the cooperative's diverse portfolio into a single, coordinated energy system.
Results
The two-stage deployment delivered substantial financial, environmental, and operational value across the cooperative's network:
- £16.4 million in total projected savings identified across all sites in Stage 1
- Grid consumption reduced by an average of 30%
- A further £2 million in additional benefits unlocked in Stage 2 through inter-site energy sharing
- An additional 9% reduction in grid consumption from Stage 2 alone
- An estimated 1.7 million kgCO2e in annual carbon emission savings
- Enhanced real-time monitoring and decision-making across the whole portfolio, reduced reliance on the grid, and greater operational control of energy systems across every site
