McAlpine Dairy Farm Case Study.

AEI SmartBox technology was installed at McApline Dairy Farm in Woodside, Victoria, to automate control of their irrigation system which included centre and lateral move irrigators, and dam storage. As irrigation operations at their farm were very manual, the automation capability provided huge time savings to McAlpine’s, freeing up time to work on other aspects of their business and enjoy a better work/life balance.

Irrigation operations in this project were optimised and integrated by our technology in conjunction with a wholesale spot price agreement from a partnering energy retailer. This allowed the McAlpine’s to maxmise the benefits from favourable live market conditions, savings approximately 15% on their energy costs during the irrigation season.

In addition, the McApline’s were above to achieve significant energy cost savings when re-filling their dam following a period of maintenance. Incredibly energy costs savings of 44% were achieved without renewables and the wholesale spot price optimisation alone.

Additional Benefits.

  • The farms irrigation system is now fully automated, removing the need for on farm travel and the stresses of manual operations. The system can be monitored and controlled from anywhere, anytime, promoting a healthier work/life balance with the confidence that operational requirements are being met.

  • When the wholesale spot price is low their is typically a high amount of renewables in the network. By irrigating during these periods the farms carbon footprint is reduced without the need for renewable assets onsite.

  • As the irrigation processes are now fully monitored and their subsequent load demands are known, future renewable installations can be more accurately sized and design to ensure onsite generation is suitable and maximised.