Dynamic LED system expanded with new features for enhanced grower control

Sollum Technologies has added new features to its SUN as a Service (SUNaaS®) cloud platform to enhance grower control. Designed with precision in mind, these enhancements to the SUNaaS platform bring an increased level of control and efficiency to greenhouse operations. New features include power management, SUNaas monitoring, energy cost controls, enhanced lighting control, and an enhanced recipe manager.

"The SUNaaS platform is at the heart of our revolution in greenhouse lighting. Reproducing and modulating natural sunlight, it manages its unique dynamic/adaptive, fully programmable LED lighting in a way that meets the specific needs of any crop at every stage of growth", the team says. "This innovation enhances crop yield and quality, and by significantly reducing energy consumption, it offers a cost-effective and sustainable solution that addresses key challenges of modern greenhouse cultivation," says Vice President Marco Lafond, Product Development at Sollum, explaining more about the new features.

Power management
"Advanced controls provide a comprehensive overview of a greenhouse's lighting environment, adding to the flexibility of the solution to adapt to crop and business needs in the new power management feature. Then, in the renewed SUNaaS monitoring tool, growers can track the electricity usage of each fixture, each zone or the entire greenhouse. This allows growers to assess the impact of supplemental light on each crop's productivity and implement strategic adjustments to the light recipe in order to conserve energy."

Energy cost controls
The SUNaaS platform enables the implementation of an electricity cap to mitigate the impact of "load shedding". Marco explains this proactive measure helps manage both peak consumption and high-cost periods more efficiently. "Given the particular challenges load shedding presents to greenhouse growers, who require consistent energy use to maintain optimal growing conditions, this cap offers a dynamic control over energy expenditure. The flexibility to modify the cap at any time ensures that growers can adjust their energy use in response to both planned and unexpected load-shedding events, minimizing their impact on operations."

Enhanced lighting control
Multi-target PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) and DLI (Daily Light Integral) data provide additional control to help maximize the use of natural sunlight. "The data serves to adjust the light quantity to meet the plants' varying needs throughout the day, and ensures that crops receive the exact amount of light necessary for optimal growth."

Enhanced recipe manager
"Empowering growers to take charge, our recipe manager allows for the creation of their own light recipes—either independently or with the assistance of Sollum's 24/7 Smart Support team", Marco continues. "Recipe ownership remains with the growers, fostering innovation and real-time optimization."

Additionally, growers can select and customize recipes developed by Sollum in its library. The latest update includes detailed recipe information such as R/G/B/FR distribution, color ratios, and power usage at any given time of day, alongside total energy consumption over selected periods. "This level of detail extends to the comprehensive spectral composition, ensuring that growers have all the information to make informed decisions," he shows. "Finally, clients who invested in Sollum's dynamic solution will benefit from the latest features, keeping their operations at the forefront of agricultural technology."

"These new features are more than significant improvements to the SUNaaS cloud platform," Marco adds. "We're transforming the way growers interact with the technology, ensuring that their crops achieve unparalleled results. These advances reflect our unwavering commitment to providing an innovative and user-centric solution that meets the immediate needs of today's growers and prepares them for tomorrow's challenges, especially as it relates to the cost efficiency of energy management. This first delivery of additional functionalities signals the start of a dynamic period of innovation and growth. We're already looking ahead with a series of transformative features to be announced later this year—each one carefully designed to provide greenhouse growers with the most advanced tools supporting the efficiency and control of their operations."