Sundrop Farms project well under way:
Large scale greenhouse production without fossil fuels?
Sundrop Farms is currently working hard to complete its new twenty hectare greenhouse project in Port Augusta, Australia. The project will use the unique Sundrop System to produce 15,000 tons of tomatoes without the use of fossil energy. With the use of solar power, the sun’s warmth is used to take salt out of seawater and bring heat, desalinated irrigation water, cooling and power to the growers.
Sundrop Farms previously realized successful trial set ups with this technology and the 20 hectare project will be the first large scale greenhouse to use the design. Once completed, a total of 15 hectares with solar mirrors will concentrate the sun to a central point to catch the energy for the process. The greenhouses are 5 hectares each and are nearing completion by the end of this year, right in time to supply huge amounts of sustainably produced TOV's to Coles Supermarkets. Once completed, the project will bring 175 permanent jobs to Port Augusta.
The project was recently broadcasted in a report on Australia's Channel 7:
If you want to learn more about the Sundrop System, please have a look at the report below from Al Jazeera's Earthrise. In the video, Philip Saumweber and Reinier Wolterbeek of Sundrop give a detailed explanation on how exactly the system works, while touring the trial with Al jazeera's Juliette Pearce: