About Gemüseproduktion Zorbau
Gemüseproduktion Zorbau is one of the production locations of giant fruit & vegetable production and marketing enterprise, Gemüsering Stuttgart. The existing 7.2 ha tomato greenhouse had HPS grow lighting throughout and is one of the largest fully lit greenhouses in Germany.
The first ever German grown Piccolo tomato crop, lit with high efficiency Hyperion LEDs
To fulfil a major new contract to produce the first German grown Piccolo tomatoes and other premium varieties, a further 1.36 ha was added to the greenhouse. Gemüsering Stuttgart is the first company in the “fresh vegetables and fruit” sector committed to consistently pursuing climate neutrality. The Zorbau greenhouse already draws all is energy requirements from an innovative micro-grid that delivers more sustainable and resilient power. But the cost of this energy is still very high and so the energy efficiency of all greenhouse operations, particularly for lighting the new crop which needs very high intensity, needs to be as high as possible.
Hyperion luminaires utilise active air cooling to enable high output, high efficiency (80% higher than HS grow lights) and a long lifespan in a compact design with very little shading. The installation at Zorbau, measured at over 250 umol/s/m², is one of the highest intensity 100% LED installations in W. Europe.
Products and services provided:
- Design of a cost-efficient new LED grow lighting solution for a new 1.36Ha greenhouse extension
- Manufacture and supply of 1,392 Hyperion 3k 830W luminaires.
Key achievements:
- 110% delivery of first year production yield target
- 110% delivery of first year quality target
- 40% more light and 20% less energy than existing HPS grow lights installation
- Key customer learning of how to grow with LED
LED grow lighting is the future so learning how to grow with it is a key objective
For Head Grower, Thomas Henninger, learning how to grow with LED was key. “Our vision was to improve quality and saving energy costs by using the future technology in artificial light. We didn’t want to waste time with a Hybrid solution of HPS + LED and decided for gaining experience in growing tomatoes under full LED conditions”. Discussions with Thomas after the first year of growing under Hyperion LEDs revealed that flowering was more stable with slightly shorter leaf length, giving a nice generative balance that results in a higher quality in the tomatoes. The greenhouse temperature needed to be a bit higher as there is more light available but the climate for growing is more stable. “We are really satisfied with the fruit quality reached now. Before the first harvest naturally we were a bit nervous if everything goes like we expected but now we see for sure the potential to reach a higher quality level and yield compared to HPS.”
Better lighting, lower costs, and rapid payback – that’s the Midstream way.
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