electrical energy is a major disbursal for Canadian greenhouse growers . At the same prison term , their large facility extend potential to bring forth renewable solar energy – but the challenge to date has been how to do that without bear on the ontogenesis and productivity of the harvest inside .
A possible solution from Ontario solar control panel manufacturer Heliene is currently being trialed on half an acre in a commercial glasshouse in Grimsby as part of a labor funded through the Greenhouse Renewable Energy Technologies ( GRET ) enquiry and development initiative .
“ This is a distributive Department of Energy projection that marries craw emergence with electricity generation capabilities , ” explains Scott McLorie , Vice President of Business Development at Heliene . “ This pilot is demonstrating that both crops and solar energy can be harvested from the same land footprint using our engineering , offset the need to generate power using dodo fuel and lower carbon emissions from the glasshouse sector . ”
The Heliene nursery solar panels each contain an muscularity - producing photovoltaic cell that generates electricity both from the top where the sunshine strike it and from any reflexion coming from underneath , and a red polyurethane back - tack .
It ’s this back - plane that transmute the green brightness level spectrum into red before shining it on the plants below , while at the same time muse it back to the photovoltaic prison cell , which turns it into electricity that can be used in the greenhouse .
“ The key is take green light , which is less beneficial , and transform that to bolshie , ” McLorie say . “ Between that and the diffuse nature of the textured solar Methedrine , we ask no reduction in plant ontogenesis . ”
Students from Niagara College have been help with the task , testing comparative outgrowth under and exterior of the run solar panels ; electrical energy generated through the pilot is used in the glasshouse . The trial includes 600 panel modules that were retrofitted into the roof of a 25 - year sure-enough greenhouse building , with two different prison cell system - a checkerboard and a stripe form – being prove for their shock on crop operation .
To engagement , the panels have been producing the eq of nine percent of the nursery ’s annual electricity uptake without any negative impacts on production . In fact , the plants have been performing advantageously and as an unexpected side benefit , the red light has been establish to be hindering the increase of thrips , a get laid greenhouse pest .
“ We ’re very encouraged by the results so far , both the beneficial increase of the crop underneath the panels and the electricity that is being generated , ” he enounce . “ We ’re using waste product Inner Light to make environmentally well-disposed energy , which will lower product costs for growers . ”
induction monetary value will vary depend on whether a system is being retrofitted into an existing construction or installed into a new build , but the company is confident there will be market demand for their first - of - its - form technology .
“ There is always hesitancy to do a big spend on something unknown , but this undertaking can facilitate remove some of those barrier by proving the technology can turn on a commercial greenhouse scale , ” he adds .
For more information : Agricultural Adaptation Council381 Elmira Road North , Unit 1Guelph , ON N1 K 1H3P : 519 - 822 - 7554F : 519-822-6248adaptcouncil.org
