Tomeco, one of the biggest clubs of tomato growers in Belgium, will be installing a new lighting system at the Hortipower location, measuring a total of 4 acres. The entire area of this partnership is over 125 acres, 40 acres is currently being lit with traditional HPS lights. Hortipower will be able to realise significantly more light output with this new hybrid lighting solution.
Tomeco stands for diverse, healthy, top quality tomatoes, grown in a sustainable manner. Sustainability is central to how this organisation operates, the choice for LED lighting is therefore a logical step, which perfectly links into the corporate group’s vision. The Tomeco growers all enjoy an intensive working relationship. This collaboration has resulted in the improvement of the operating result through knowledge sharing and making the business results transparent. This has enabled the group to continue to invest in the latest growing techniques. This will result in even better “feel good tomatoes”. This way of working allows Tomeco to continue to develop sustainable relationships with its customers.
Hortipower has opted for water-cooled LED top lighting for the hybrid lighting system. The ‘Oreon Grow Lights 2.2 – EV’ can be connected to a 200-480VAC installation. This means the new LED fixtures can easily fit into the existing lighting installation. The same cabling can be used and there will be no need to invest in new switch panels, resulting in significantly lower installation costs. Where there used to be 4 HPS lights installed underneath a truss, 5 lights will now be mounted on the same truss in a so-called checkerboard pattern. The specially designed ‘batwing’ lens results in a proportional light distribution above the crops, even when only the LED installation is switched on.
The Oreon Grow Lights provide half of the light output. With the addition of water-cooled LED top lighting to the lighting system, Tomeco is expecting to be able to realise an increase in crop yield without an increase in energy costs.
The complete water and electricity installation will be provided by Voshol Warmte-Elektrotechniek. The installer from Bleiswijk is expected to complete the installation at the start of October, in time for the new lighting season.
For more information:
Tomeco Services BVBA
Berkelaar 7
2330 Merksplas
Belgium
T: +32 (0)14 700 509
M: +32 (0)497 499 492
Oreon
Lorentzlaan 6
3401 MX IJsselstein
Netherlands