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From waste heat to juicy tomatoes: The story of RegEnergy in Frövi
10 april 2024
Around 200 kilometres from Stockholm, in the town of Frövi, a story of sustainability and innovation is emerging. Surrounded by forest and the beautiful Swedish countryside, a greenhouse on an enormous scale now stands.
The story of the RegEnergy project in Frövi is the story of a greenhouse of no less than 100,000m2 that will produce over 8,000 tonnes of tomatoes every year, equivalent to about 10% of Sweden's total tomato consumption. The tomatoes will be grown using surplus heat from the neighbouring Billerud paper mill. The factory's production generates large amounts of waste heat, an unutilised energy source that has been wasted until now.
With the RegEnergy project, the surplus heat will now be recycled instead. This is done in a closed, circular pipe system where the heat is pumped into the greenhouse, creating the ideal climate for tomato plants to grow. Once the heat is used in the greenhouse, the cooled waste heat is transported back to the factory.
Numbers that speak
It can be hard to imagine how much space 100,000m2, 10 hectares, actually takes up. But here are some key figures from the greenhouse construction process to give you an idea:
- 5,000 panes of glass ensure that the greenhouse is bathed in natural light.
- 9,936 lights provide optimal lighting for the tomatoes.
- There is no less than half a kilometre from one end of the greenhouse to the other.
- 400 kilometres of pipes have been used to wind through the greenhouse. In addition to transporting heat around the greenhouse, the pipes also act as rails that can be used to move between the tomato plants.
In Sweden, more than 80% of tomatoes are imported, and the RegEnergy project is therefore a groundbreaking project that shows how utilising surplus heat from large factories in Sweden can not only contribute to the green transition, but also increase food security in local production, shortening the distance from farm to fork by minimising the need for imports and long transport times.
Just the beginning
The RegEnergy project in Frövi is just the first of a number of projects in the Selected RegEnergy fund. Like the Frövi project, future projects will also include the establishment of greenhouses, where the utilisation of waste products from industrial production is used for sustainable food and biomaterial production.
It is estimated that by 2030, up to 53% of Europe's energy consumption will be lost in the form of waste heat(source), while drought and water shortages are a growing problem in several of the countries where tomatoes, for example, are currently produced. Therefore, there are many advantages in moving production closer to the consumer.
An investment in the Selected RegEnergy fund is a long-term investment with an average annual return of +15% per year.
You can read more about the Selected RegEnergy investment fund here.
