Should Your Farm Do Solar or LED Lighting First?

One of the most common questions we get from Alberta farm operations considering energy upgrades is: should we do solar first or LED lighting first? In most cases, the answer is LED first — and here's the clear reasoning behind that recommendation.

Why LED Usually Comes First

Solar panels are sized to offset a specific energy load. If you install solar before doing the LED retrofit, you're designing the system around a lighting load that's about to change significantly.

Here's what that means in practice:

• A barn with 40 x T8 fluorescent fixtures consumes roughly 16,000 kWh per year in lighting alone
• A properly sized solar system to offset that load might be a 15–18 kW installation
• After LED retrofit, the same barn's lighting load drops to approximately 3,600 kWh per year
• A solar system sized to the post-LED load would only need to be 3–4 kW for that portion

If you installed the 15–18 kW solar system before the LED retrofit, you've now got significant over-capacity relative to the actual lighting load — and you paid for it unnecessarily. The combined investment in LED + properly-sized solar after the retrofit is almost always less than solar alone sized to the pre-LED load.

LED Also Pays Back Faster

LED lighting retrofits typically pay back in 2–4 years. Solar systems typically pay back in 6–10 years for farm operations. By doing LED first, you start generating significant savings immediately while the solar project is being designed, permitted, and installed — which typically takes 3–6 months.

The Demand Charge Connection

For farms on demand-charge rate structures, LED lighting reduces peak demand as well as energy consumption. This can meaningfully reduce the demand charge component of the bill — a savings that a solar system alone won't deliver. Getting the lighting load down before analyzing the solar ROI gives you a more accurate demand charge picture to work with.

When Solar First Makes Sense

There are situations where solar before LED is the right call:

• The operation has minimal lighting loads and high process energy loads (irrigation pumps, grain dryers, etc.) that dominate consumption
• A compelling solar incentive has a deadline that won't accommodate waiting for the LED project to complete
• The LED retrofit is very small relative to total consumption and won't meaningfully change the solar system sizing

The Right Answer Comes From the Audit

The correct sequencing depends on your specific operation — what your largest loads are, what your current lighting situation looks like, and what your goals are. QuotePath's free energy audit covers your full energy profile and gives you a straight recommendation on sequencing before you commit to either project. Book your free energy audit to get the right answer for your farm.