GSHP in Agriculture

[pulhamdown]

Our next door neighbour has started digging up one of his 40 acre fields to install ground source heat recovery.  I'm assuming that he will use several rather large heat pumps to generate electricity for cooling his potato stores during the summer.   I haven't had a chance to talk to him in detail, but needless to say, he is getting government grants to install.  Payback he reckons is around four years.  From his point of view, an absolute no brainer.  I would imagine that 40 acres of ground source heat slinky would generate a huge amount of electricity, and still be available for stock grazing after installation.  This is the first I've heard of GSHP generation on this scale in agriculture.  My neighbour the other way is currently erecting around two acres of really high glasshouses.  I'm assuming for growing tomatoes.  He is using biomass at the rate of around 4 x 25 ton timber trucks a week.  Some of that is for heating polytunnels to get an earlier crop, and some for drying excess fruit for inclusion in breakfast cereals.  Needless to say, more government grants being available.  Agriculture has certainly changed since I was a boy!  I guess global warming has certainly played a large part in driving that change.  There are even cherries being grown in polytunnels not far from me.  And blueberries are being grown just across the road.   

[ProDave]

Unless there is something I have not heard of a GSHP produces heat, not electricity (it consumes electricity to produce it's heat)

 

[SteamyTea]

Cold is the killer for potatoes, it quickly turns the starch to sugar once below about 5°C.  So probably for heating.

Lack of water is also bad for potatoes, so he could be fitting irrigation.

I would have thought though, that large ASHPs would be easier, cheaper and just as effective to install.  But maybe not such a large incentive to do so.

Will be interesting to see how this project fairs. 

[pulhamdown]

I'm sure you're right.  Not having heat pump tech in my house, I hadn't really thought this through.  So the heated water from the ground goes through the heat pump, powered by electricity which then cools the liquid in the potato store cooling system?

[pulhamdown]

1 minute ago, SteamyTea said:

Cold is the killer for potatoes, it quickly turns the starch to sugar once below about 5°C.  So probably for heating.

 

No, it's definitely for cooling in the summer.  I'm guessing that they need to be kept at a precise temperature to prevent either sprouting or cold damage.  But yes, it will be interesting to see how this progresses.  I'll speak to the farmer and find out exactly what the system is, and the theory behind it.  

[SteamyTea]

I have often wondered how well cold spoiled potatoes can be turned into ethanol. Not that I think biofuel is a good thing , but it may be a better use of spoiled crops if it can be processed near to the site.

[Ferdinand]

Interesting.

 

IIRC Thanet Earth were adamant that theirs was the only place in te( country where they could do their particular type of operation, which is I think using LED lights as one part of making it grow.

 

F

[pulhamdown]

3 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Interesting.

 

IIRC Thanet Earth were adamant that theirs was the only place in te( country where they could do their particular type of operation, which is I think using LED lights as one part of making it grow.

 

F

This is not for growing potatoes, but for storing potatoes until the market is ready for them. 

[Ed Davies]

If one neighbour is pumping heat out to keep potatoes cool and another is pumping heat in to keep tomatoes warm it seems to me that a deal should be done.

 

Similarly, thermal (coal, gas, nuclear) power stations should be surrounded by greenhouses to exploit the low-grade waste heat.

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, Ed Davies said:

 

Similarly, thermal (coal, gas, nuclear) power stations should be surrounded by greenhouses to exploit the low-grade waste heat.

 

Perhaps also use the CO₂ from a coal or gas power station to enhance the growth of the crops?

[Ed Davies]

@JSHarris, yes, just looked at the Thanet Earth Wikipedia article which appears to use both waste heat and CO₂ from a CHP plant. But all the other thermal plants should do the same (except  nuclear won't produce CO₂).

[pulhamdown]

42 minutes ago, Ed Davies said:

If one neighbour is pumping heat out to keep potatoes cool and another is pumping heat in to keep tomatoes warm it seems to me that a deal should be done.

 

Similarly, thermal (coal, gas, nuclear) power stations should be surrounded by greenhouses to exploit the low-grade waste heat.

Unfortunately, they are large farms and probably at least 2 miles apart.  No power stations here , but we do have a large anaerobic digester turning out gas for the grid, on the other side of the village.  It uses a lot of spent grains from the whisky industry.  That spent grain used to be used as pig feed.  Not the quiet backwater that many people assume it is.

Edited May 22, 2019 by pulhamdown

[scottishjohn]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

have often wondered how well cold spoiled potatoes can be turned into ethanol. Not that I think biofuel is a good thing , but it may be a better use of spoiled crops if it can be processed near to the site.

vodka is what it is usually turned into or the basic alcohol for gin  .LOL

[Gone West]

5 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

Interesting.

 

IIRC Thanet Earth were adamant that theirs was the only place in te( country where they could do their particular type of operation, which is I think using LED lights as one part of making it grow.

 

F

We can see the pink glow from the glass houses at Thanet Earth at night. They have a contract with a local farm to remove all the unwanted tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers which they turn into liquid fertilizer. They also collect all the bines and compost them.