At tomato grower Meer Fresh Products in Meer, under the watchful eye of Flemish Federal Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden, a solar park on a water basin was opened on Tuesday. Three thousand solar panels float on the basin on a special installation. Tomeco, the group under which the grower falls, and Comeco, a large pork processor, are the initiators behind the project.
Both companies work together and supply each other with water and energy. Around Meer Fresh Products are five basins that collect rainwater. A complete floating solar panel park has been installed on these using ClicFloats technology from Connectum. The solar panel installation on the basins provides electricity on the one hand but also reduces water evaporation and improves water quality at the same time. Water flows from Meer Fresh Products to Comeco, and purified process water flows back from Comeco to Meer Fresh Products for use in growing tomatoes.
Tomeco shares figures on the collaboration on LinkedIn:
Heat sharing reduces the use of fossil fuels by the amount that 120 households would use natural gas.
The solar panels are extra efficient on the cool water and save almost 600 tonnes of CO2. They provide what 400 families consume in electricity.
Sharing the collected rainwater saves as much as 100 million liters of tap water or the consumption of 800 families. In turn, the floating insulation on the basins prevents 312,000 liters from evaporating.