The University of Windsor is partnering with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers ( OGVG ) and Kruger Energy to inquire using existing air current farm to superpower and heating system greenhouses in Southwestern Ontario .
Dubbed the HIGH Energy project , short for the Hydrogen Integrated Greenhouse Horticultural Energy project , the new joint venture purport using wind turbine to generate clean electricity and hydrogen to utilise in the area ’s multi - billion - dollar bill nursery sector .
“ Farmers are looking to enlarge operations and increase their access to low carbon energy solution , ” say Aaron Coristine , OGVG ’s manager of skill , regulatory affairs , and government activity sexual congress . “ This joint speculation will construct pathways to reach this with novel adaptations of fresh , proven vigour technology . ”
Southwestern Ontario bluster the highest denseness of greenhouses in North America . The nursery sector has been speedily raise , but further enlargement is thwarted by a want of locally available energy . hint farm already standing in the sphere could provide a solution , deliver electricity and atomic number 1 instantly to greenhouses .
Kruger Energy currently generates 200 megawatts of wind energy in Southwestern Ontario , which is enough to potentially power around 60,000 home .
“ We ’re pleased with the expectation of an extra market for our intersection , ” said JJ Davis , Kruger Energy ’s oecumenical coach of Canadian operations .
“ Kruger is a leader in sustainability and strategical plus direction , which will enable us to reliably provide clean energy to the vegetable greenhouse sphere with our long - established wind farm . ”
The project propose make a commercial-grade facility that takes topically captured flatus energy , turn it into electricity and atomic number 1 for nursery that grow tomatoes , peppers , cucumbers , strawberries , and other crops . The first step of the labor is to do the economic and regulative molding to make the commercial enterprise face for the venture .
“ There will be a identification number of starting time in this project , ” state Rupp Carriveau , an engineering prof and conductor of the Environmental Energy Institute at the University of Windsor , who is leading the molding efforts .
“ We call a lot of learning in both the engineering and policy spaces , ” he said . “ The in high spirits Energy undertaking excites us . Using evidence existing assets in a fresh way to improve things or solve a problem sounds hardheaded and resourceful . We fuck result like that . ”
This project aligns with the direction of senior levels of government in meeting the energy and food needs of communities across the state and country .
For more information : Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Grower ’s Associationwww.ofvga.org
