Today, 12th September 2023, at the SPACE event in Rennes, ICaRE4Farms held its final conference as part of the project.
The agenda for the afternoon was as follows:
- General introduction and reminder of the objectives of the Icare4Farms project.
- Energy issues in the agricultural sector, particularly livestock farming: the benefits of solar thermal energy for hot water production.
- The project's pilot sites: - Method: instrumentation and measurement of thermal performance and Presentation of the 4 sites and the results obtained.
- Modelling of solar energy production and feasibility study tool
- The project's challenges for Fengtech
- General conclusions of the project & long-term impact.
- Q&A session.
The speakers were from the project team and Interreg NWE Secretariat.
Energy consumption is often a significant burden in the operation of agricultural operations. This is especially true for large livestock operations that use heat to heat buildings, clean facilities or prepare livestock feed. Among the range of possible solutions to reduce energy costs, the use of solar thermal energy is an interesting alternative when breeders use hot water and their needs are expressed all year round. This is particularly the case for veal calf farms for the preparation of liquid feed, piglet maternity and post-weaning workshops for heating buildings, dairy cow farms for cleaning milking parlours, and even broiler farms for heating buildings when the chicks start.
