Low Carbon Farming unveils plans to deploy wastewater-heated greenhouses nationwide
Business Green ‘Enormous greenhouses the size of the O2 Arena could allow the UK to become self-sufficient in tomatoes and cucumbers, according to developer Low Carbon Farming
More than 40 giant wastewater-heated greenhouses could help curb the UK’s reliance on imported vegetables and significantly shrink the British horticulture sector’s carbon footprint, according to development company Low Carbon Farming.
The company announced yesterday that it has earmarked potential sites for 41 low-carbon greenhouses heated by harnessing waste heat piped from local wastewater recycling centres, as its maiden greenhouses reach completion in East Anglia. The nationwide rollout would generate more than 8,000 jobs, increase the nation’s low carbon heat output by 3TWh annually, and pump £2.67bn into regional economies, it said.
Currently, Britain imports more than 85 per cent of its tomatoes and 75 per cent of its cucumbers, but according to Low Carbon Farming the proposed fleet of greenhouses – each one larger than the O2 Arena – would significantly increase the UK’s food security at a time when the risks associated with international supply chains have been highlighted by the coronavirus crisis. The proposed facilities could grow enough domestic produce to reduce imports of cucumbers and tomatoes to zero, the company contends.
Just two low-carbon greenhouses under construction in East Anglia, together comprising 70 acres of indoor growing space, are set to increase British tomato production by 12 per cent, it added.
“Our East Anglian projects provide British farming with a bankable template for the nationwide roll-out of transformative, renewable heat solutions,” said Andy Allen, director at Low Carbon Farming. “Having secured the financing and proven the business model, and with the case for secure and sustainable British produce having been thrown into such sharp focus, it’s time to plan for the next stage.”
Wastewater-heated greenhouses are able to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 75 per cent compared to conventional commercial greenhouses, according to the firm, with the remaining carbon emissions incurred by a combined heat and power unit which drives the heat pumps and aids growth and photosynthesis.
The new projects are proposed in locations across the British Isles. Nine greenhouses are planned for the Midlands, six in the South East, four each in the North West and North East, and three in the South West. Six locations have been identified in Scotland and Wales, and a further three in Northern Ireland, the firm added.
The East Anglian projects set to come online later this year have tenancy agreements with third party growers that supply to retailers such as Subway and Sainsbury’s. Both were purchased in September 2019 by major renewables investor Greencoat Capital.
The investor is now considering backing the ambitious nationwide rollout. “Renewable heat is a new frontier for UK climate action and every sector will need to play its part,” said James Samworth, partner at the fund. “Our projects have demonstrated that it’s now perfectly possible to strip the carbon out of British growing and, with the appropriate policy environment in place, we look forward to considering the role we can play in financing a wider roll-out of this solution.”
Low Carbon Farming has urged the government for a favourable policy environment for the nationwide roll-out of its technology, in particular through the extension of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
“Policy decisions made the innovation behind our first projects possible – specifically, the entirely logical extension of the Tariff Guarantee until the end of the Renewable Heat Incentive in 2021,” Low Carbon Farming’s Allen said. “We now look to government for a clear and far-sighted decision to extend revenue support for renewable heating in British farming far beyond 2021.”
The RHI is a government scheme which allows businesses to claim subsidy payments for generating heating from renewable heat sources, such as biomass boilers, biogas, bio-methane, and heat pumps. The 10-year scheme is currently scheduled to close to new applicants from March 2021. Moreover, the programme’s tariff guarantee system, which allows businesses to secure a tariff rate before their installations are commissioned and fully accredited, ends on 31 January next year, injecting fresh financial uncertainty into waste heating investment decisions.
Former leader of the Green Party Natalie Bennett said that waste-based farming initiatives like Low Carbon Farming’s could help plug holes in England’s food strategy. “Our diets are deeply unhealthy and our farmers often face an unnecessary trade-off between the commercial and the environmental,” she said.”British farming must increase its production of fruit and vegetables many times over but in a manner compatible with our net-zero commitment. That’s why this waste-based innovation is so exciting: it smashes both boxes and establishes a highly replicable template for policy-makers to build upon.”
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