Electricity, Heat and CO2 for Doef’s Greenhouses in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada

Greenhouses in Alberta need a lot of heat, lighting and CO₂, that is well known. At Doef’s Greenhouses Ltd, the greenhouse is equipped with grow lights. Doef’s Greenhouses grow vegetables and lettuce in a 4.6 ha (11.4 Acres) greenhouse for the Canadian market. When the days are getting shorter or when the light levels are too low, the growing lights switch on. Until recently, the electricity was taken from the Canadian electricity grid. This is going to change now. 

Horseshoe Power GP Ltd. from Calgary is a supplier of gas, electricity, heat and now also of CO₂. Horsehoe Power extracts gas from its own natural gas and oil wells. The gas is transported to the desired location, also now to Doef's Greenhouses. The gas is converted by 4 combined heat and power installations into electricity, heat and CO₂. This leads to significant savings.
Doef’s Greenhouses only needs to use the boiler as back-up, because all the heat from the combined heat and power plant can be used. The CHP’s produces twice as much CO₂ per kWh of heat, therefore the crop will also benefit from this.

At the site, 4 CHPs of CAT3516’s are installed, in total the installation produces:
- 5,950 kW electric power
- 5,950 kW thermal power
Doef's Greenhouses has 1,500 kg of CO₂ per hour available because of the modern flue gas cleaning systems.

The CHP’s can operate both in isolated mode as well supply the electricity to the public grid. If the heat is not needed immediately, it is stored in the heat storage tank, so that all produced energy can be used efficiently.

AAB INT assisted both Doef's Greenhouses and Horseshoe Power with the realization of the complete project by means of: project development, energy analysis and guidance, feasibility study, engineering and design, purchase support and project management.