Nur-Sultan, The family of Oleg and Natalia Veretilnyi might seem like ordinary farmers living in Bolek village in the Almaty Region in the Republic of Khazakstan, but they intend to fully cease using the electrical grid in favor of solar energy, which makes their homestead special, the Astana Times reported.

The family have a poultry farm with 250 hens, which allows them to sell eggs and meat in the markets of Almaty and Issyk cities. They plan to complete the greenhouse for growing herbs and vegetables for feeding birds in autumn and open a bakery someday.

The family has been familiar with renewable energy sources for a long time and was among the first residents in the village to install solar collectors for heating water. The farmers will add a few more panels and install them in a new greenhouse in the near future.

The farmers decided to use renewable energy sources because the voltage along the main network of the village is unstable, and its capacity is not enough for the normal operation of electrical appliances.

“If I want to bake bread, I need 220 volts, otherwise the dough will not rise, and here we have a maximum of 170-180 volts. We installed six solar panels and an inverter in early summer for that reason. Thanks to this measure, all appliances, including egg refrigerators, freezers for poultry, automatic feed mixers and bread machines among other technologies, are working at full capacity. Electricity charges have become three times lower, and this, of course, affects the cost of production,” said Natalia Veretelnaya.

“We installed batteries and a renewable energy converter in the house. During the day we use electricity from the sun and wind, and we “feed” on accumulated electricity in the evening,” said Nazhenov.

Source: Oman News Agency