2008-12-11 - Two mega-greenhouse projects in the Netherlands and the U.K. – each the size of 70 soccer fields and thought to be the largest in the world – have selected a range of ABB products to ensure reliability at their power-exporting, carbon dioxide-recycling facilities.
By ABB Communications
The two projects – Thanet Earth in the U.K. and Luttelgeest in the Netherlands – bring industrial-size economies of scale to market gardening for the first time by combining new growing methods as well as the ability to capture and sell surplus electricity generated onsite to the local power grid.
Thanet Earth, for instance, will not only increase the U.K.’s annual crop of salad vegetables by a gigantic 15 percent, it will export enough electricity to power 50,000 British homes. The figures for the Luttelgeest project are similarly huge.
The principle is that each giant greenhouse – a complex of seven buildings forming the 92-hectare Thanet Earth site, and a mammoth 43-hectare single structure at Luddelgeest – will be equipped with a combined heat and power plant to provide the electricity and heat needed to grow vegetables all year round.
The surplus electricity generated – which can be as much as 95 percent of capacity – can be sold to the local power grid. Carbon dioxide produced by the generator exhaust gases is recycled to fertilize the plants.
Since electricity occupies a pivotal role in the business model, the power supply to the greenhouses and the grid has to be reliable, and is a vital part of the process.
"ABB is the market leader in medium voltage products and UniGear is the world’s biggest selling medium voltage air insulated switchgear. Market gardeners all over the Netherlands rely on ABB switchgear to help them produce 25 percent of the world’s tomatoes and a third of the world’s peppers and cucumbers "
Both Thanet Earth and Luttelgeest have ensured the reliability of their power supply with ABB’s UniGear ZS1 medium voltage switchgear.
UniGear is the most widely used medium voltage air insulated switchgear in the world.
Launched in 2004 as the first modular medium voltage switchgear platform, the uniquely compact cubicles consist of standardized units that are easily assembled and configured to meet precise customer specifications.
Each of the two greenhouse projects will use up to 28 UniGear ZS1 switchgear cubicles to secure power reliability at the greenhouses.
In addition ABB is supplying 36 A140-H turbochargers to improve the output and operating efficiency of the 18 power generators at Luttelgeest.
The first crop of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers is scheduled for 2009 at both locations.
Grown hydroponically in nutrient-rich water rather than soil, the crops are suspended on frames at waist height to facilitate picking.