The world's first seawater tomato greenhouse

After years of research and experimentation, Sundrop Farm Company has succeeded in developing the first tomato greenhouse model based on the use of solar and sea energy.

The commercial-purpose greenhouse model was first built in Spencer Bay area, near Augusta harbor 300km north of Adelaide, South Australia.

Construction began in 2010 on an area of ​​20ha, this farm was completed in 2016 and will open in the first week of October.

This system uses a solar tower to operate a plant growing, heating or cooling system when needed and processing irrigation water.

Harvesting tomatoes for Coles supermarket system.(Source ABC).

With 23,000 glass panels, the solar energy is transmitted to the 115m high central tower, the highest capacity this tower can produce is 39 megawatts of thermal energy.

All water used to irrigate crops is sea water, leading from Spencer Bay and processed into fresh water through desalination equipment.

Adrian Simkins, who has more than 20 years of experience in greenhouse farming in Europe and North America, said it was a special project, not only for the first time in Augusta harbor but also for the first time in the world. . Desalinated seawater here is of top quality.

He said: "The water is almost perfect. All salt in the seawater is filtered clean, without any pathogens, extremely clean and then we can add the necessary nutrients to the plant. ".

Leading this project is former investment bank director Philipp Saumweber with investment experience for international agricultural projects and Reinier Wolterbeek engineers, masters in water treatment. The two men have devoted a lot of enthusiasm for this project.

Mr. Saumweber said: "I can count the number of times I cry because of life's failures on one hand, which is 2-3 times related to the Sundrop project. The roof of the greenhouse is blown off on a hot day. 45 degrees C. Completely losing the testing season: Losing many colleagues many times when the project is criticized the most. "

Experienced tomato growers Adrian Simkins said this is the world's leading project.(source ABC).

Wolterbeek said: "Not many people think you can grow vegetables in the desert but I think you can. If you think a little bit, you'll find a solution."

The cost of building a tomato greenhouse system in Augusta is about 200 million AUD. This facility produces about 15,000 tons of tomatoes per year. One of Australia's largest supermarkets Coles signed a 10-year contract to sell products to Sundrop.

Brad Gorman, Coles' fresh product manager, said it was the retailer's longest contract in the agricultural sector.

Tomato is one of the 10 best-selling product lines in the supermarket and this demand is increasing, especially in the winter, the supply-demand gap is very large. Sundrop products help balance this need.

Mr. Saumweber said the signing of a 10-year supply contract with Coles supermarket system helps attract large companies to join.

Solar panels.(Source ABC).

Sundrop Farm will also launch tree planting systems in Portugal and the US and plan to build another project in Australia. Wolterbeek said the first step of each project would be to find a partner with a retailer.

He said: "First of all will be to understand the needs of customers and then design suitable greenhouses. It is not always the energy tower and sea water that may be other things. The sky is limited but I don't see any limits in cultivation ".

However, the project leaders also said that although not using fresh water and using solar energy, the system still belongs to the wiring system because it requires about 10-15% of transmission power, especially in winter, the days are less sunny.