Dutch Lion has completed part of its validation project with Vertify at the World Horti Center, based on crop and energy data collected over several months. This part of the project focused specifically on lighting.
The key result: by using free sunlight as the primary light source and adding targeted LED lighting only where and when needed, MTSys reduces lighting energy use to a level where total energy costs per kg become comparable to conventional greenhouse production.
The numbers tell a clear story. Winter lighting energy use averaged 2.9 kWh/kg for crispy lettuce, while conventional indoor farms typically require 4–5 kWh/kg for lighting alone. Projected summer lighting energy use is approximately 1.6 kWh/kg, and production output per m² footprint is significantly higher than traditional greenhouse growing.
© Dutch Lion
This is important because lighting is one of the biggest cost drivers in indoor farming. By combining vertical density with natural sunlight, MTSys avoids the main energy disadvantage of fully closed indoor farms while keeping the productivity advantage of vertical growing.
By using vertical space inside the greenhouse, MTSys is designed to deliver meaningful efficiency gains across the board: a 90% reduction in required growing footprint, 40% lower CAPEX compared to equivalent growing capacity, and 20% lower crop costs.
This validation is part of a broader project with Vertify focused on proving a competitive business case for hybrid vertical farming in greenhouses.
Source: Dutch Lion
