"We now grow our ferns with two day and two night periods within 24 hours," explains Lennart Bijl of Vitro Plus. In Burgh-Haamstede, Zeeland, they took part in the 'Boost the Grid challenge' in spring 2023, where they pitched and won the idea of flexible lighting. This involves lighting when energy is cheap on the daily market.
Battery
"Often these are times when there is a lot of energy available," Lennart explains. "This is how we avoid rush hour. We also store energy in a battery, which has a capacity of 430kwh. We do this from our solar panels, of which there are 554 on the roof of the newest building, but also from the grid. When energy is cheap, we can charge from the grid and use that energy during the lighting period."
Vitro Plus' premises with the latest building with solar panels in the foreground.
Dynamic lighting
"Incidentally, the plants still receive the same amount of light, only the pattern is adjusted. Within 24 hours there are two day and two night periods, but in total there are still 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. We do not notice any difference in quality during propagation, and the ferns that are propagated in our greenhouse in Zierikzee also have the same quality. This applies to the ferns from tissue culture and the ferns from spores, which we sow ourselves here. Flexible, or dynamic, lighting has been tested on both categories and it is deployed on both."
Lennart Bijl and Miranda Meerman of Vitro Plus in one of the 'growing chambers'.
Implementation
At Vitro Plus, they have spent the past 1.5 years testing and mapping the possibilities for large-scale implementation of flexible lighting. They have now reached the end of the testing phase and the results are so positive that it will be implemented in their newest premises. After that, it will gradually be implemented in the other premises as well and the aim is for flexible lighting to be applied across the entire company by the second quarter of 2025.
The battery
Lennart concludes, "We benefit from low energy bills and a happy grid operator on the one hand, and we retain the same quality."
For more information:
Vitro Plus
De Roterij 26
4328 BA Burgh-Haamstede, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)111 46 80 88
info@vitr
oplus.nl
www.vitroplus.nl