Food Security is everyone’s responsibility in the GCC. According to Satvik Jaitly, Consultant for Food & Nutrition at Frost & Sullivan in a special report to SME10x, the volatility in oil demand and trade disruptions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the current status quo and the future outlook of food security in the GCC. No product or commodity carries the immediacy or political sensitivity of food.
One area of promise is plant factories. These are facilities that don’t need access to natural sunlight. They use high intensity lighting and vertical rows to fit as much produce into as small a space as possible, making them incredibly efficient. Plant farms require 95 percent less water and 99 percent less land than conventional farms. The farms are monitored by software and don’t use pesticides. Given that they require a smaller space than your traditional farm, plant farms can also be developed closer to or even in cities, cutting down on transportation to the retailer and consumer.
While there are major advantages to plant farming, they do need energy, lots of it. Lights need to be run for two-thirds of the day, and plant factories require heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) to regulate temperature. In fact, plant farms can consume more energy per square foot than a data center. Energy loads will vary based on the plant farm’s size and operations, but the power needs could vary from as little as 500 kilowatts to 15 megawatts.
“We believe that indoor agriculture is going to be one of the four major drivers of electricity consumption over the coming decade,” added Schneider’s Khateb. “One concept which is proving effective in the United States, which is pioneering plant farms, is the creation of on-site micro-grids.”
The thinking behind using microgrids is simple. Plant farms need power. And they’re often based in urban settings, where electrical distribution is constrained. By setting up a microgrid, which is basically a stand-alone set of energy sources and loads that can operate independently of the main energy network, plant farms can be energy self-reliant, operate at reduced costs, and rely on energy that’s clean.
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