ENERGY SAVING
Energy saving technology demo-project EPT
This article examines the energy saving technology applied in the framework of the EPT (Energetic Mushroom Growers) demo-project in The Netherlands. There
is a variety of technology that can be implemented on every farm. By Jan Gielen, Delphy, Manager / Climate & Energy Specialist,
j.gielen@
delphy.nl
T
his project was performed by DLV Plant Mushrooms (now: Delphy) in collaboration with three demo-farms; Bercvenne in Lierop, Kemmeren in Rijsbergen and ’t Voske in Uden. The installation company involved in the project is Vegatech, Boekel. The project was run as part of the demonstration scheme ‘Clean and Efficient’ policy programme and is financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development; ‘Investing in Rural Europe’ and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Various energy saving measures and forms of renewable energy have been used on the three farms taking part in the project. Of particular interest to the sector is the technology that can now be used in practice and widely applied. Combustion of spent mushroom compost as a renewable energy source to generate power for use on farms still requires further refine- ment before it can be widely used in practice. Fermentation of spent mushroom compost is not effective, meaning that a bio-fermenter
can only be used in situations where fermen- table biomass is already available, manure for example. The following sections briefly escribe the technical details of PV solar panels, wood combustion and geothermal energy storage. These techniques have proven their worth as cost-effective methods of saving energy and generating renewable energy.
PV solar panels
Since the first multi-year energy plan was agreed in 1998, the Dutch mushroom sector has devoted attention to and suppor- ted growers in facilitating energy savings and utilising renewable
energy. The application of these in practice has continued to develop and progress, made possible and funded by members of the Dutch Steering Committee for Clean & Efficient Mushroom Growing. This committee unites LTO Mushroom Group, the Product Board for Horticulture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Dutch growers.
In the mushroom sector a great deal of cooling, in other words electricity, is needed when the sun shines. It is precisely at this moment that PV solar panels can supply the most electricity. In this case supply and demand run parallel, so the application of PV solar panels is perfect in the mushroom growing sector. For the best performance and economic benefits the most important factors are the roof pitch and the direction it faces. The roof must also require no further maintenance and have sufficient load bearing capacity. No shade must be caused by chimneys, air ducts, other buildings or trees, as the energy generated is determined by the panel in the array that produces the least (the panels are wired in series). The panels must also be well-ventilated from below, as overheating negatively affects their performance. Even if you have enough roof surface area, it makes no sense installing an array of PV panels if the main grid connection cannot cope. In emergency situations it must be possible to feed the full power generated by the solar panels back to the main grid. Depending on the situation, PV solar panels can generate between 25 to 35 % of the annual electricity demand of a farm. If at any time the panels are producing more energy than needed at that moment, surplus energy can be supplied to the main grid and off- set against consumption of grid energy (energy supplied to the grid is deducted from consump-
28 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
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