How Sollum Technologies Plans to Use Smart Energy Management
June 6, 2024 Through its lighting technology, Sollum Technologies plans to optimize energy consumption, reduce costs and improve sustainability in CEA.
Balancing Yield and Energy Costs
Several factors determine how plants react to light, including crop type, natural sunlight, developmental stage, crop type and grower goals. Genetics are specific to crop type and variety, meaning their responses to lighting differ.
In addition, different types of artificial lighting have different energy efficiencies. Here are the different pricing models offered by energy providers:
- Time-of-use pricing structures electricity rates based on different periods, with higher rates during peak hours and lower rates during non-peak hours, encouraging customers to shift their consumption to periods of low demand.
- Tiered pricing assigns different price levels to consumers based on their consumption, applying higher rates when consumption exceeds the threshold to encourage conservation.
- Dynamic pricing involves real-time adjustments of electricity rates linked to market conditions, enabling consumers to react to price fluctuations and optimize their consumption.
- Peak demand pricing imposes charges based on electricity consumption during a specific period, pushing consumers to manage to avoid higher charges and thus reducing overall costs.
Given the diversity of available energy pricing models, greenhouse growers must choose the right one to effectively manage energy costs. Regardless of their chosen option, it’s essential that the technology used in greenhouses is appropriately adapted to optimize energy savings.
Applying High Flexibility to Complex Systems
In a time-of-use pricing scenario, the most common approach is to schedule energy-intensive activities during off-peak periods to reduce costs, and to limit consumption during peak periods. However, this is often unattainable in practice, as low rate schedules do not always line up with the agronomic needs of crops.
The advantage of using an adjustable power system is during peak and intermediate consumption periods, the grower can optimize the balance between yields and costs.
In a tiered pricing context, the ideal balance between operational costs and crop yields for each tier can be calculated, and the greenhouse strategy can be dynamically adapted upon reaching the next tier. The two methods of adjusting electricity consumption—changing intensity and spectrum—can reduce costs when reaching a higher tier.
In a real-time pricing environment, the use of a smart, dynamic energy management system offers significant advantages to businesses. By automatically adjusting their consumption according to current energy rates, the system allows companies to optimize energy consumption and benefit from lower rates.
Applying Energy Management to a Real-Life Situation
Consider a strawberry grower who has just planted. The strawberry plants are in their vegetative growth phase, when the main goal is to encourage leaf growth and produce an open canopy that allows good air circulation.
At this stage, a lighting solution with a higher far-red output is recommended since this wavelength stimulates stem elongation and leaf expansion.
In this kind of situation, the system’s decision-making algorithm needs to be adapted to the agronomic needs of the crop. Adjusting the spectrum, intensity or photoperiod during peak hours is a temporary measure aimed at reducing energy costs with minimal impact on the crop. Once peak hours are over, the system reinstates the optimized settings for growth.
Lighting the Way Forward
The intersection of technology, agronomy and intelligent energy management is critical in unlocking the full potential of CEA. Sollum Technologies plans to preserve the ecosystem by offering a sustainable solution that contributes to quality of life and supports local economies.