Hortipower

This interview details Hortipower, a company based in the Netherlands. The interview is with Marco van Trigt, Sales Manager at Hortipower.

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What is the origin story of Hortipower?

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Hortipower is an initiative of KG Greenhouses, a greenhouse builder and specialist in turnkey projects in greenhouse horticulture. 

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The field of activity of KG Greenhouses has continued to grow for almost 50 years. From automation to shading, from water technology to cultivation table systems,  What distinguishes KG Greenhouses is the breadth of our delivery package and the close collaboration between the various disciplines, such as greenhouse demolition, greenhouse construction, heating, installation technology, and cultivation table systems. Beautiful projects have now been completed in more than 35 countries.

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KG Greenhouses ordered an energy storage system for the storage of energy from its own solar panels, this system was delivered earlier this year. We also use this system to trade on various energy markets.

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We purchased this energy storage system from Volstora. They are a designer and manufacturer of energy storage systems that they build in their factory in Arnhem, The Netherlands. We became very enthusiastic about the story of Volstora and the quality of their systems. We discussed the opportunities to work together, resulting in us becoming a dealer of Volstora systems.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Hortipower in the future?

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Challenges that we currently face are high transport costs that network operators and the limited availability of grid capacity calculate. Grid congestion is becoming a major problem in the Netherlands. If a grower doesn’t have a large connection to the grid, it is in most parts of The Netherlands not possible to enlarge it. That’s why our main focus is growers that already have a large connection to the grid.

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On the other hand, batteries can also help to combat net congestion. This is because energy storage systems can help to balance the grid. You can charge the batteries when there is a lot of input from wind and solar, and discharge the batteries when there is less input of sustainable energy. 

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What is unique about Hortipower compared to competitors?

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We can offer two types of batteries, Titanium-based SuperTitan batteries and lithium phosphate batteries (LFP) under the name SuperStrata. 

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The SuperStrata battery is very suitable for use in a storage system for expanding capacity, or for storing your own energy production from solar panels. This battery has a lifespan of approximately 10 years. The LFP batteries are used in most energy storage systems, so the battery is not unique. What is unique is the way the batteries are stacked in the container. We are using a high-density stacking design with a patent-pending laminar airflow system that cools each cell equally. This result in a significantly better battery life. 

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Also, the SuperTitan batteries are unique. These LTO-batteries are mainly composed of Titanium-based materials and have a lifespan of 25 years. The SuperTitan is extremely suitable for trading on the energy markets. The battery can withstand a very high number of cycles (22.000+), which means it can be charged and discharged several times a day without deteriorating quality. The main pillars of the SuperTitan battery storage system are the technical design of the construction, the unique cooling system, and the control management system. By using Titanium as the main component, the SuperTitan has been recognized by the industry.

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What size of growing areas do you typically work with for greenhouses?

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For us as Hortipower, the size of the growing area is not important. Any grower who has some spare energy is interesting to us

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Energy is a big topic in indoor farming right now. How much do greenhouses typically pay for electricity (kWh)? Is it mainly from the grid or renewables?

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That really depends on the type of energy contract that the customer has. A lot of growers are using a mix of energy from the grid, cogenerators, and renewables.

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Hortipower?

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People can go to our website (www.hortipower.nl) or they can contact me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcovantrigt1).

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