Startup Thermeleon developed a smart buffer system to temporarily store heat and release it at night: the Heat Battery. This ensures lower gas use and a more even greenhouse climate. Innovation Quarter writes that together with innovation company Division Q, the first batteries were tested at the growing company Koppert Cress. "You never have the egg of Columbus all at once. You only achieve that through co-creation." The parties received an AgriTech voucher to support their project.
A first test session with the Heat Battery started in May last year. The initial setup was 10 square meters. It was then scaled up to 1 hectare. Hanging in the greenhouse are sensors that measure temperature, CO2, and humidity. This, therefore, allows the effect of the Heat Battery to be measured. The results are promising, says Liesanne Wieleman of Thermeleon. "In summer, we had an attenuation of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius during the day and 1 to 2 degrees in the evening. Moreover, the temperature was much more evenly distributed throughout the greenhouse. At the start, we were mainly interested in lower gas consumption. But as the project progressed, preventing extreme temperature spikes also became important to us."
Read the whole article here at Innovation Quarter (NL).