Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LUZ), the world leader in lighting, announced that it will provide LLC Agro-Invest, Russia's most innovative greenhouse production company, with LED grow lights, to support growing tomatoes and cucumbers in Greenhouses covering an area of more than 25 hectares (equivalent in size to 40 football fields). The project, which is the largest LED horticulture project ever undertaken, will allow year-round growth, help increase harvests - especially in winter - and save energy costs by 50 percent compared to conventional high pressure sodium lighting. The project also emphasizes the global trend towards large-scale LED implementations of horticulture that can support the demand for locally grown produce.
Philips Lighting is working with Dutch partner Agrolux and Russian installer, LLC ST Solutions, to equip greenhouses in Lyudinovo, Kaluga Oblast, 350 km southwest of Moscow, over the next three months. Philips Lighting will provide optimized lights for growing tomatoes and cucumbers, training services and 65,000 1.25m long GreenPower LED toplights and 57,000 2.5m long Philips GreenPower LED interlights. Placed end to end, the lights would extend 223 km, i.e. the equivalent to crossing the English Channel, from Dover to Calais, more than five times.
"We have a reputation for large-scale innovation and LED lights for cultivation are definitely the future. They provide the right light for the plants, exactly when and where the plant needs it the most, while radiating much less heat than conventional lighting. This allows us to place them closer to the plants, "said Irina Meshkova, Executive Director and General Manager of Agron-Invest. "Thanks to this technology we can increase harvests in the darkest months of the year and significantly reduce our energy consumption," she added.
"This is the largest LED horticulture project in the world. It will reduce electricity consumption to illuminate cultivation by up to 50 percent compared to conventional horticulture lighting, and use light prescriptions designed to increase crop quality and yields by as much as 30 percent in the dark winter period," said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader of the lighting business for horticulture at Philips Lighting. "Our growth lights are the perfect daylight supplement so that crops can grow efficiently throughout the year. The project also highlights a growing international trend in replacing imports with products grown in the country, reducing the mileage of food and ensuring freshness," he added.
Source: elpuntocritico.com