$150m solar powered greenhouse nears construction in SA

Construction is set to begin on a $150 million-plus solar powered greenhouse in South Australia’s Port Augusta – a ground-breaking project that will use the sun’s energy and desalinated seawater to grow tomatoes all year round.

Developer of the greenhouse technology, Sundrop Farms, said last week it had engaged Frazer-Nash Consultancy to engineer construction of the Port Augusta project, which will expand the current pilot greenhouse into a 20 hectare commercial facility, adding eight more greenhouses to produce 15,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables annually.

The greenhouses will use 36MWth of solar-thermal energy to generate heat and desalinate water from the nearby Spencer Gulf.

Plans for the facility’s solar plant, which were approved in October, include the construction of a 100 metre high solar power tower topped by a 15 metre high solar receiver, and a ‘solar field’ of around 11,000 stands, each holding three heliostat mirrors.

They also include the construction of two Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) plants, several seawater pipelines, a pipe for brine dispersal into the gulf, and a visitor centre to help promote tourism interest in the venture.

According to council notes, the solar tower will contain a boiler to generate steam, which is condensed into hot water to heat a large hot water storage tank (storing up to 22,000 cubic metres of hot water) situated adjacent to the tower.

The solar thermal infrastructure will heat a closed loop system of hot water that heats another closed loop, transferring heat to the greenhouses by circulating through the internal pipework. After being circulated through the greenhouses the water is returned to the hot water storage tank for reheating.

Sundrop CEO Philipp Saumweber said Frazer Nash would provide Owner’s Engineer support over the next two years of the project’s development.

This would include practical and technical guidance to the design, testing and acceptance of the greenhouse project during construction and commissioning through into operations, a Frazer-Nash release said.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed to help finance the facility, which is expected to employ more than 200 people and will produce over 15,000 tonnes of tomatoes a year for metropolitan markets across Australia.

Sundrop hopes the expanded solar greenhouse facility will be the fore-runner of further projects in Australia and other arid zone regions, particularly in the Middle East (where it has already set up an office) and north Africa.