LED grow lights are on the verge of bringing a revolution when it comes to Horticulture lighting. They are responsible for growing vegetables all round the year. Philips Lighting has recently installed its first LED grow light project for cucumber cultivation in Russia with Agrokultura Group and its new business partner Svetogor. Agrokultura is a large supplier of greenhouse-grown cucumbers and tomatoes located near Moscow. The company has been conducting experiments in hybrid installation with HID top lighting and Green Power LED inter-lighting on 7,550m2 with the main prospect of increasing its yields, predictability and decreasing energy costs.
“We use lighting from September to April in our cucumber greenhouse for about 4,000 hours. Reducing the electricity costs for our lighting system could significantly increase the profitability of the greenhouse,” says Vladimir Chernyshev, CEO of Agrokultura Group. “Besides reducing energy costs, we are expecting to see an increase in yields which would allow us to pay back the LED modules within the first three to four years of their use. The return on investment we achieve in the trial will be crucial for helping us decide whether to switch our full 30ha of greenhouses to LED lighting. We are partnering with Philips Lighting because of its high-quality technical solutions and ability to supply big orders in a relatively fast time frame.”
Udo van Slooten, business leader for horticulture at Philips Lighting, commented: “Our recent participation in Russian projects like Agro-Invest, the largest LED project in the world for cucumbers and tomatoes, has created a lot of interest across Russia and other parts of the world. We know that lighting costs make up a significant share of operational costs for Russian growers, and we are eager to help Agrokultura increase its yields and reduce its energy consumption with the use of our LED technologies.”
