Nichols Electric Case Study: Completing Infrastructure Expansion of Former Pig Barn for New Lambing Facility

Nichols Electric • April 9, 2021

📍Polson’s Farm, East of Ponoka, Alberta

Background:
After the 2003 BSE crisis, Polson’s Farm diversified into raising sheep and found great demand. By 2012, they outgrew their space and moved their operations to a larger farm formerly utilized to raise pigs.

Challenge:
Expanding an existing structure on the new property to accommodate a state-of-the-art lambing facility for their 2500 ewes. Nathanael Polson also wanted to keep in mind the continued growth of his operations and consider future expansions in our solution.

Solution:
Initially, we conducted site reviews and discussed Nathaneal’s current and future expansion needs. We completed all required load calculations for the new infrastructure, verifying that the existing utility would sustain the added electrical demands. We then developed an electrical design to accommodate the systems and equipment to meet those needs.

Benefits:
By working with the latest LED technology, we provided Polson’s Farm with a lighting system 50% more efficient in consumption versus its fluorescent counterparts. This resulted in both operating efficiency and energy cost savings.

Sheldon’s a guy I can always phone and he can give me an idea on how something should be executed or a component that I never knew existed. He keeps things efficient, cost effective and has a lot of experience with barn lighting and grain handling systems. And it's just nice to have him on speed dial if I have questions. I think you can't afford to be too prideful to ask questions when you're trying to grow. I didn't invent all this myself, I learned it from other people and I’ll pass it along to my kids.


- Nathanael Polson, Owner, Polson’s Farm

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