About Gospodarstwo Ogrodnicze Karpinscy
Having begun hydroponic production of lettuce in 2017, Gospodarstwo Ogrodnicze Karpinscy is now one of the largest producers in Poland. Servicing the growing domestic demand for fresh salads, the business sells direct to large supermarket groups and delivers to distribution centres across Poland.
Key achievements:
- Improved crop yields and higher quality, longer shelf life produce.
- Energy cost reductions in excess of 40%.
- Easy swap out of HPS lighting using existing infrastructure.
- 3-year return on investment of LED lighting deployments.
Products and services provided:
- Manufacture and supply of 1350 Hyperion Pro LED grow lights.
- Replacement of legacy HPS lighting in greenhouses.
The journey from 100% HPS to 100% LED with Hyperion
Gospodarstwo Ogrodnicze Karpinscy is a growing business and its owner, Pawel Karpinski, is quick to see an opportunity. So, in 2017, when rising production costs, stagnating prices and international competition where stifling expansion of his commercial tomato operation, he diversified: moving into hydroponic production of lettuce in a new 6200m² greenhouse.
In phase two of the project, the size of the greenhouse doubled to 12,400m². A year after that, in 2020, Pawel added a further 6200m² to 18,600m². In 2022, Pawel extended the greenhouse again to 24,000 m² and plans a final phase (four) for 2024. Each of these modern greenhouses are built with diffused glass, energy and light break screens and a moving gutter system to maximise the number of plants per m².
To ensure year-round growing, lighting was critical. In his first greenhouse, Pawel selected traditional HPS lighting in an effort to minimise risk. In phase two, with electricity costs rising, Pawel opted for a hybrid deployment of HPS and modern Hyperion LED grow lighting.
The results were impressive: the lettuces were more compact, better coloured and higher quality after harvest. Plus, the Hyperion luminaires proved to be significantly more energy efficient – the 600W LEDs being equivalent to 1000W HPS in light output. That meant less power and lower electricity costs.
This success gave Pawel the confidence to switch to 100 percent LEDs at a slightly higher light level for phase three of the operation. Now, with absolute confidence in growing with Hyperion LED growing, not only will phase four be 100% LED, but all remaining HPS lamps from phases one and two have also been replaced with LEDs.
In the customer’s own words:
“LED is the next logical step in Poland because our electricity costs are very high, so the energy saving is positive. After a precise calculation of the investment costs of LED compared to HPS and taking into account the costs of replacing HPS bulbs, the return on investment in LED takes 3 years.”
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