A company in Antalya has managed to manufacture led armature lights to use in greenhouses to provide solar energy. The use of led armature lights in greenhouses is pretty common in Northern countries and the company has already started exporting these lights to Russia. The company’s greenhouse is using these lights to grow tomatoes and now have also started cucumber production as well.
PSL Electronics A.S. developed this product specifically for production regions which does not have enough days with the sun for efficient agricultural production. The company has analyzed sodium armatures commonly used in greenhouses in North European countries however determined that this type of armatures are not suitable to fulfill the needs of the fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, these armatures are not cost-efficient according to the company representatives. As a result, the company’s research and development department have developed a light system complete with led lights and managed to grow plants in an area with zero sunlight in their facility.
The engineers in the company have split this completely dark greenhouse to 15 separate areas. One area was equipped with sodium armature lights used in North European countries whereas the remaining 14 areas are equipped with different variations of led armature lights developed by the company. The first trial was with tomato and the company has managed to double the productivity expected from that production space and received twice as many products as expected.
The second batch of experiments was done with strawberries which were also successful. Now the company has set its sights to grow gherkins which are quite popular in the Russian market.
The company owner Cengiz Senturk: “We are experimenting with different products and variations of light whilst keeping the other factors such as fertilizers and water as constant. This way we are trying to determine which light type and intensity are more suitable for which product. Russian companies have shown a special interest in this product as Russia is trying to improve their agricultural production. As many of their regions receive very low levels of sunlight, they are trying to utilize this type of technologies to set up massive greenhouses where they can grow tomatoes and cucumbers.”
Source: Haberturk