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30 January 2007 -- An Ontario, Canada, commercial tomato greenhouse operator is installing a 12 MW Jenbacher CO2 fertilization cogeneration system, designed by GE Energy, to boost crop production and generate needed electricity for the regional grid.
Soave Hydroponics Company, a division of Detroit, Michigan-based Soave Enterprises, is installing the cogeneration plant in its 55-acre Kingsville greenhouse facility as part of the Ontario Power Authority Request for Proposals to add 1,000 MW of cogeneration power projects' capacity to the local grid. The site is located in the Leamington region on the north shore of Lake Erie, about 350 kilometers west of Toronto.
Construction on the plant is expected to start in May 2007 and be completed in December 2007. It is one of seven cogeneration projects recently approved by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) as the agency seeks to diversify the region's energy supply.
The cogeneration system uses four Jenbacher JMS 620 gas engines as well as heat recovery and exhaust treatment equipment, noise abatement insulation and systems controls. After the purification of the exhaust gas with special catalytic converters, the gas is cooled down and supplied to Soave Hydroponics Company's greenhouse crop for CO2 enrichment.
The plant's 12 MW of electrical output will primarily be supplied to the Ontario Power Authority under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Additionally, thermal energy from the plant will be stored in hot water tanks and deployed to heat the greenhouse.
According to GE, this cogeneration technology is common in the Netherlands where it also capture CO2 and uses it to increase production in greenhouses.
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