Weighing system on the picking trolleys that weighs two punnets simultaneously.
Growing room with two rows of shelving, seven high.
powered by heat extracted from the surrounding air. Cold air is heavier than hot air, so the cold air descends into the gravel bed where, together with the cool water, it causes a cooling effect. The advantage of the hoses in the gravel bed is that a larger cold buffer is created. The system is kept under 1 to 2 bar of pressure to exclude air, otherwise the hoses would soon become soiled and contaminated. The water for the nozzles and, if necessary, to top up the system, is taken from a very deep source and is of perfect quality. This cooling method is also called adiabatic or evaporative cooling and is highly efficient.
Power consumption
Power consumption on the farm is approxima- tely 375,000 kW of electricity. 175,00 kW of this is generated by an array of 900 solar panels which are located on the roof of the farm. Electricity consumption converts to 8.6 kW/m2
/
surface area. This level of consumption is achieved thanks to the well-insulated panel construction of the buildings dating from 2009, an energy efficient cooling system, frequency controllers on the fans, high efficiency motors and LED lighting installed in part of the farm. In the future, all the new lighting will be LED. The wish list also includes modifications to the cooling valve controls. “The plan is to decrease the water temperature of the cooling when the cooling valve opens more than 80% and vice versa. This will optimise the cooling water temperature which saves energy and stabilises the regulation of the air temperature and RH. We already use a similar system to regulate the
heating and we’re very happy with the results. On an annual basis, we use 88,000 m3
of gas. All
the growing rooms are cooked out with the compost for six hours at 60°C. Gas consumption is low at 2.0 m3
gas/m2 /surface area. The warm
water of 30-32°C from the water-cooled cooling system is used to heat the growing rooms if necessary. This reduces the active time of the boiler. As the heating coils are sufficiently large and the pipes leading to the coils are thick enough, we can work well with heating water at a low temperature of 30-32°C.”
Sketch of growing room clearly indicating the air duct system in blue. MUSHROOM BUSINESS 35
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