Sundrop Farms

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Sundrop Farms is a developer, owner and operator of high tech greenhouse facilities which grow crops using methods which reduce reliance on finite natural resources when compared to conventional greenhouse production. [1] Sundrop Farms opened its first pilot facility in Port Augusta, South Australia, in 2010 (operating as Seawater Greenhouse Australia Pty Ltd). This facility was originally designed as a Seawater Greenhouse. However, significant technology changes led to the Sundrop System, and the dissolution of the joint venture with Seawater Greenhouse Ltd. [2] Sundrop Farms commissioned an expanded 20 ha facility south of Port Augusta in 2016. Sundrop Farms has offices in London, UK and Adelaide, Australia. In October 2016, Sundrop Farms was operating greenhouses in Portugal, the United States and had another facility planned in Australia. [3]

Contents

Sundrop system

The primary inputs to a greenhouse are heat, electricity, water, and nutrients. The Sundrop System is a collection of technologies which, when used in combination, reduce the need for finite resources in these inputs versus conventional greenhouse production. In Sundrop Farms’ first facilities in South Australia, these technologies include concentrated solar power, thermal desalination, and steam-driven electricity generation. [4] This is the first combined heat, power, and water system powered by solar energy for greenhouse production.

Commercial expansion in Australia

Sundrop Farms
160411 Whole Site Aerial.jpg
20 hectare expansion project, Port Augusta, South Australia
Sundrop Farms
CountryAustralia
Location Port Paterson, South Australia
Coordinates 32°32′51.4″S137°50′48.1″E / 32.547611°S 137.846694°E / -32.547611; 137.846694
StatusOperational
Construction began2016
Owner(s)Sundrop Farms
Operator(s)Sundrop Farms
Solar farm
Type CSP
CSP technology Solar power tower
Total collector area51,500 square metres (554,000 sq ft)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 1.5MWe
External links
Website www.sundropfarms.com
Commons Related media on Commons
[ edit on Wikidata]

In 2015, Sundrop Farms constructed a 20 hectare solar-powered greenhouse facility near its original site, south of Port Augusta in South Australia. [5] This facility, completed in 2016, produces over 15,000 tonnes of truss tomatoes (on the vine) each year to supply the Australian supermarket operator Coles under a ten-year contract. [6] Sundrop Farms operations are primarily powered by a concentrated solar thermal power plant and seawater withdrawn from Spencer Gulf and desalinated to feed produce. The project was expected to generate around 100 jobs during the construction of the greenhouse facility (in 2015) and approximately 200 jobs once operational. In 2014, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts invested $100 million in the company. The development was supported by the Government of South Australia which provided approximately $6 million in grant funding. A $150 million development contract was awarded to John Holland in 2014 to construct the expanded facility over an 18-24 month time-frame [7] [8] and the total project cost is an estimated $205 million. [9]

The $175 million, highly productive "farm" opened in June 2016 and produces 10-15 per cent of Australia's truss tomatoes to Coles. [10] In May 2019, it was sold to Morrison and Co. [11] It employs 300 people. [12]

Concentrated solar power

Sundrop Farms' 20 hectare expanded facility is powered by an Integrated Energy System based on the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology. [13] The system is designed and delivered by Danish renewable energy specialist, Aalborg CSP, and it is the first large-scale CSP-based technology in the world to provide multiple energy streams – heating, fresh water and electricity – for horticultural activities. [14] The 51,500 m2 solar field comprises eSolar’s Solar Collector System. [15] Commissioned in October 2016, [16] [17] [18] [19] the facility's concentrated solar thermal plant peak heat production rate is 39 MW, [20] and desalinates water while producing 1.5 MWe of electricity. [21]

Desalination plant

Sundrop Farms' original pilot facility desalinated seawater but did not return waste brine to Spencer Gulf. The brine was collected in ponds from which salt could be harvested. [22] The company's brine management plan changed with its 20 hectare expansion in 2014. Sundrop Farms sought and received approval from the South Australian Environment Protection Authority to discharge waste brine into Spencer Gulf at a salinity of 60 parts per thousand. The expanded facility discharges its brine into the cooling water outflow channel previously used by the coal-fired Port Augusta power stations. [21]

Environmental approval from the Commonwealth Government via referral under the EPBC Act [23] was not required of or sought by Sundrop Farms for this project. Sundrop Farms continues to investigate commercially viable solutions for the recovery of minerals from brine at a large scale. [4]

Government support

In addition to receiving government financial support, the firm was endorsed by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and several South Australian ministers, including Geoff Brock [24] and Gail Gago. [25] Sundrop Farms' former chairman David Travers was employed in the South Australian public sector as the Deputy Agent General for South Australia in London when he received the firm's initial proposal. [22] [26] The Clean Energy Finance Corporation [27] was an early supporter of the project, committing as a cornerstone debt financier. CEO Philipp Saumweber [28] described the CEFC's commitment as invaluable in enabling the company to subsequently negotiate growth capital funding from global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desalination</span> Removal of salts from water

Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. The by-product of the desalination process is brine. Desalination is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on cost-effective provision of fresh water for human use. Along with recycled wastewater, it is one of the few rainfall-independent water resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Gulf</span> Large inlet in South Australia

The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and Eyre Peninsula in the west to Cape Spencer and Yorke Peninsula in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Augusta</span> City in South Australia

Port Augusta is a small coastal city in South Australia about 310 kilometres (190 mi) by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the gulf's head, comprising the city's centre and surrounding suburbs, Stirling North, and seaside homes at Commissariat Point, Blanche Harbor and Miranda. The suburb of Port Augusta West is on the western side of the gulf on the Eyre Peninsula. Together, these localities had a population of 13,515 people in the 2021 census.

Northern Power Station was located at Port Paterson in the Australian state of South Australia about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of the city centre of Port Augusta. It was coal powered with two 260 MW steam turbines that generated a total of 520 MW of electricity. It was operated and maintained by Alinta Energy and was commissioned in 1985. Northern received coal by rail from the Leigh Creek Coal Mine, 280 km to the north. The plant ceased electricity production in May 2016 and decommissioned and demolished over the following few years.

Playford B Power Station was located at Port Paterson in the Australian state of South Australia about 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) south of the city centre of Port Augusta. It was coal powered with four 60 MW steam turbines that generated a total of 240 MW of electricity. Playford B received coal by rail from the Leigh Creek Coal Mine, 280 km to the north and drew cooling water from Spencer Gulf, returning it to the sea at an elevated temperature. Commissioned in 1963, it was co-located with the older Playford A Power Station and the larger, newer Northern Power Station. Playford B was mothballed in 2012 and its permanent closure was announced by operator Alinta Energy in October 2015. Prior to being mothballed, it primarily operated in the summer, when electricity demand peaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CETO</span>

CETO is a wave-energy technology that converts kinetic energy from ocean swell into electrical power and directly desalinates freshwater through reverse osmosis. The technology was developed and tested onshore and offshore in Fremantle, Western Australia. In early 2015 a CETO 5 production installation was commissioned and connected to the grid. As of January 2016 all the electricity generated is being purchased to contribute towards the power requirements of HMAS Stirling naval base at Garden Island, Western Australia. Some of the energy will also be used directly to desalinate water.

The Point Paterson Desalination Plant was a planned municipal-scale solar-powered desalination plant with land-based brine disposal near Point Paterson in the locality of Winninowie in the Australian state of South Australia about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of the city centre of Port Augusta. The Point Paterson Project was to utilise a salt flat owned by a salt company but which has not been in use for solar salt production for decades. The plant would have integrated renewable energy and desalination technologies to create environmentally-friendly electricity and water. In particular, the project would have significantly reduced the usual greenhouse impacts associated with grid electricity demand for desalination. The project had attracted the interest of internationally renowned climatologist, the late Professor Stephen Schneider, who joined the Board of Acquasol in 2006.

A seawater greenhouse is a greenhouse structure that enables the growth of crops and the production of fresh water in arid regions which constitute about one third of the Earth's land area. This in response to global water scarcity, peak water and soil becoming salted. The system uses seawater and solar energy, and has a similar structure to the pad-and-fan greenhouse, but with additional evaporators and condensers. The seawater is pumped into the greenhouse to create a cool and humid environment, the optimal conditions for the cultivation of temperate crops. The freshwater is produced in a condensed state created by the solar desalination principle, which removes salt and impurities. Finally, the remaining humidified air is expelled from the greenhouse and used to improve growing conditions for outdoor plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar power tower</span> Type of solar furnace with a tower receiving focused light

A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors to focus the sun's rays upon a collector tower. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems are seen as one viable solution for renewable, pollution-free energy.

SolarReserve was a developer of utility-scale solar power projects which include Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photovoltaic (PV) technology. The company has commercialized solar thermal energy storage technology that enables solar power tower CSP plants to deliver electricity day and night. In this technology, a molten salt is used to capture the energy from the sun and store it. When electricity is needed, the stored liquid salt is used to turn water into steam to turn a turbine and generate electricity.

eSolar Concentrating solar power

eSolar is a privately held company that develops concentrating solar power (CSP) plant technology. The company was founded by the Pasadena-based business incubator Idealab in 2007 as a developer of CSP plant technology. The company aims to develop a low cost alternative to fossil fuels through a combination of small heliostats, modular architecture, and a high-precision sun-tracking system. In October 2017, an article in GreenTech Media suggested that eSolar ceased business in late 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahara Forest Project</span>

The Sahara Forest Project aims to provide fresh water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions as well as re-vegetating areas of uninhabited desert. The founding team was composed of Seawater Greenhouse Ltd, Exploration Architecture, Max Fordham Consulting Engineers and the Bellona Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra SunTower</span> Solar power plant in Lancaster, California, U.S.

Sierra SunTower was a 5 MW commercial concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built and operated by eSolar. The plant is located in Lancaster, California. As of mid-September, 2022, the two towers that were the center of the facility are no longer standing. However the rest of the plant is still present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seawater desalination in Australia</span>

Australia is the driest habitable continent on Earth and its installed desalination capacity has been increasing. Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from dams and water catchments. As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought, state governments began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Approximately one percent of the world's drinkable water originates from desalination plants.

Aalborg CSP is a Danish renewable energy specialist mainly designing solutions based on concentrated solar power (CSP) technology. The company's main office is located in, Aalborg, Denmark, and they have offices in Spain, the United States, Kenya, Australia and Indonesia. Aalborg CSP has participated in projects mainly in Spain, but also in Turkey, Norway and Russia. The most current project as of 2015 is an integrated energy system located in Port Augusta, Australia. Aalborg CSP has partnered with Sundrop Farms to create a farm powered by the sun and saltwater. By using desalination, powered by the sun, it is possible to produce the water with desalinated seawater. Aalborg CSP was in 2010 given the Gazelle Award, where companies must have had a doubling of either revenue or profit in the last four years. Aalborg CSP has 56 people employed.

South Australia is a leader in utility-scale renewable energy generation, and also produces gas and uranium for electricity generation. Gas production is mostly concentrated in the Cooper Basin in the state's north-east. Gas is delivered from these fields by pipeline to users interstate and to Port Adelaide where it fuels three separate gas-fired power plants. Uranium is also mined in South Australia, though nuclear power generation is prohibited nationally. The Olympic Dam mine is the world's single largest known deposit of uranium and represents 30% of the world's total uranium resource. Many utility-scale wind farms and solar farms have been commissioned during the 21st century and geology with potential for geothermal energy has also been identified but is yet to be developed.

Port Paterson is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the east coast of Spencer Gulf at the gulf's northern end about 237.4 kilometres north of the state capital of Adelaide and about 9 kilometres south of the centre of Port Augusta.

There are approximately 16,000 operational desalination plants, located across 177 countries, which generate an estimated 95 million m3/day of fresh water. Micro desalination plants operate near almost every natural gas or fracking facility in the United States. Furthermore, micro desalination facilities exist in textile, leather, food industries, etc.

The Taralga Wind Farm is a wind farm located near Taralga, New South Wales. Owned by Pacific Blue, it commenced operation in 2015.

The Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park is a combined wind and solar farm under construction south of Port Augusta in South Australia, Australia. The solar farm is planned to be at the northern end of the site, west of the Augusta Highway and south of Sundrop Farms. The wind turbines will be on both sides of the Augusta Highway, extending south as far as the road to Horrocks Pass. Construction formally started in October 2020 and is estimated to take about 18 months to complete. The total site is about 5,400 hectares.

References

  1. ↑ "The Q&A: John Phinney of Sundrop Farms". www.nortonrosefulbright.com. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Margolis, Jonathan (24 November 2012). "Growing food in the desert: is this the solution to the world's food crisis?". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Staight, Kerry (1 October 2016). "'First in the world': Solar-powered greenhouse growing food without fresh water". ABC News. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Sundrop System - Sundrop Farms". Sundrop Farms. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Fairfax Regional Media (24 March 2016). "Solar tower reaches new heights". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Kohlberg Kravis Diversifies: Invests $100M in Sundrop Farms - Analyst Blog". NASDAQ.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "MINUTES OF PORT AUGUSTA CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 15 DECEMBER 2014" (PDF). Port Augusta City Council. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Brown-Paul, Christine (1 January 2015). "Fossil Free Future" (PDF). Practical Hydroponics & Greenhouses (151). Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "In Focus - South Australian Major Developments 2014/15 (p44)" (PDF). Government of South Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "The future of farming". The Australian. 12 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "Futuristic renewable-energy agribusiness Sundrop Farms sells to trans-Tasman investment firm". ABC News . 15 May 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Kurt (29 May 2021). "Good taste and food security: How Sundrop used solar to bring tomatoes to the desert". RenewEconomy.
  13. ↑ "Solar Thermal Electric - Aalborg CSP begins construction of integrated energy system". 14 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Vorrath, Sophie (24 March 2016). "Solar power tower goes up in Australian desert, ready to grow tomatoes". RenewEconomy.
  15. ↑ "Sundrop Farms Port Augusta Expansion". eSolar. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "A Desert Full of Tomatoes, Thanks to Solar Power and Seawater".
  17. ↑ "£120m state-of-the-art-tomato farm opens in Australia". 6 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "First farm to grow veg in a desert using only sun and seawater". New Scientist. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "FOTOS: Danske solanlæg laver 17.000 tons australske tomater". Ingeniøren . Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  20. ↑ ABC News, 2016. "Sundrop Farms pioneering solar-powered greenhouse to grow food without fresh water", http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-01/sundrop-farms-opens-solar-greenhouse-using-no-fresh-water/7892866, accessed 2017-01-12
  21. 1 2 "COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PANEL AGENDA Meeting #123" (PDF). Port Augusta City Council. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Bright Idea". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 15 April 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  23. ↑ "Referrals list · Basic Portal". epbcnotices.environment.gov.au. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  24. ↑ "Sundrop Farms greenhouse expansion expected to create 300 jobs in Port Augusta". Yahoo News. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  25. ↑ "Funding for skills to lead to Sundrop Farms jobs". www.my5cs.com. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  26. ↑ UniSA. "The University of South Australia: Home". www.unisa.edu.au. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  27. ↑ "Home". cefc.com.au.
  28. ↑ "CEFC congratulates Sundrop Farms on securing new global partner for expansion - Clean Energy Finance Corporation".
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