Van der Hoeven is currently realising a 10 hectare turn-key ModulAIR project in the south west of France, in the village of Pontenx les Forges in the Mimizan district. Both the customer and the region are well known to Van der Hoeven. We have developed many hectares in this region, about 15 in all, and more ModulAIR projects are currently under construction. An interesting aspect of this project is that low-grade residual heat is being used from an adjacent waste incineration plant.
The heating system is therefore designed to maintain the greenhouse temperature throughout the year by making use of the limited volume of water being drawn in at 60°C. An important aspect of this is the series switching of the piperail heating and the propagation tubing, whereby the returning water from the piperail can be used as supply water for the propagation tubing. The water is in fact used twice in order to draw the maximum amount of energy from the water.
Aside from the low-grade heat from the incineration plant, the facility also has a gas-fired boiler for contingency use. This can be switched on if there is not enough heat from the incineration plant to heat the greenhouse (for example in very cold conditions). The boiler can then be used to further heat the water coming in at 60°C from the plant. In addition, the gas-fired boiler that is used for contingencies can also be deployed when the heating from the incineration plant is switched off for maintenance works.
The building schedule is rather tight but it is expected that the first tomato plants will be in place just after Christmas. This project is being realised in cooperation with our partner for the French market, HortiNed. Proof of this successful cooperation is the fact that another two ModulAIR projects have been commenced at the French market, covering an additional area of 9 hectares.
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