Agfest 2021 Round Up

Well that’s another Agfest done and dusted for the DMS Energy crew.

It was 4 days instead of 3 but with less numbers, it was okay. Not stupendous, not dead but okay.

So what was the primary interest this year. I would have to say Off Grid Solar enquiries were the most prevalent.

I guess this has commas about with real estate squeeze, soaring rents and house prices. People are looking for their own private Idaho on a bush block out of town.

Out of town locations are synonymous with lack of services being available. Services that are taken for granted in town but living in town in some cases is being priced out of most peoples equations. The good news is that we are living in an age where off grid solar is more affordable then ever and when compared to the costs to connect these more remote blocks to electricity becomes (quite quickly) the only obvious choice to make.

Hence the off grid interest this year and DMS Energy are quite famous for our ability to design, supply and install off grid solar systems; big or small. It was nice to be actively sought out to assist people turning their dreams into reality.

These days we are meeting the off grid demand by installing 2 to 3 per month, where going back not so many years ago, it would have been 2 or 3 per year and it’s still on the rise.

Solar Pumps were a surprising comeback this year. Those of you out there that that may have been following our progress for sometime, would be aware DMS Energy began our solar journey with solar pumps for farming projects, but they never really took off like grid connect solar eventually did. But this year for the same reason, off grid system installs are on the rise and we’ve had a higher than average amount of enquiries for solar pumps.

For those that don’t know, there are solar pumps that can move serious amounts of water by purely using solar panels. They can work in conjunction with the grid or diesel generators and for smaller jobs, battery storage. But dont confuse them with the dinky little pond pumps you see online. Some of our bigger pumps can move over 400,000 litres per hour easily.

Grid connect is still as popular as ever but the people mentioning the AEMC paper they released asking solar users to pay a small fee to access the ability to sell their excess power to the grid, has been poorly misrepresented to the public with over-hyped headlines. This took a lot of time unpacking and explaining and only goes to show how ‘click bait’ style headlines or even just thoughtless announcements from the idiocracy can have a negative impact on entire industry. This makes me wonder if that wasn’t the entire purpose behind the whole silly announcement.

We had a great time as usual, now the real work begins and that means talking to those who kindly took the time to come and see us. So, it’s going to be busy, busy, busy for the next few weeks.

Also, it’s a good time to thank the Agfest Rural Youth crew who carried out a relatively smooth event under these trying COVID-19 times. Plus, I’d like to thank the DMS Energy team who picked up the slack while most of the office staff were away and those that set up and took down our site. Like most things, good outcomes rely on good teams. DMS Energy has a great team and if you would like to get in touch with us for your next off grid, on grid, solar pumping or electrical project, or maybe just want to be warm this winter with some of our heating products call 1300 502 599 or pop in and see us at our showroom at 56 Sheffield Rd, Spreyton.