Growing plants indoors in a controllable environment gives farmers a chance to optimize every single part of the growing process – from humidity and temperature to the availability of light.
There’s just one problem: Many indoor vertical farms don’t have the tools they need to really fine-tune their growing conditions – or the capital they need to implement equipment that can give them the complete control they need.
This is where temporary power and temperature control equipment can play a major role. Helping indoor vertical farms optimize every element of their growing cycle and providing a major boost to their bottom line.
Before we dive into the solutions, let’s take a look at some of the biggest challenges in indoor vertical farming.
If you run an indoor vertical farm, you’re probably always on the lookout for ways to control your environment better.
But that’s often easier said than done. Getting the equipment you need installed and running can often be difficult, for three main reasons.
While you're likely aware of how excess humidity and high temperatures can affect your crops, it's essential to explore the most effective methods for managing these factors. When it comes to indoor vertical farming, we’ve found that the most important things to consider are:
You need a partner that doesn’t just provide reliable equipment. You need someone who understands the specific needs of your facility – and can advise you on the best solution, help you implement it, and monitor its performance.
The right partner should be able to address and anticipate your unique challenges: Do you need to add another low-temperature air handler to your facility to battle the summer heat? How can you rightsize your generators to maximize productivity without wasting energy budget?
Indoor vertical farming is still coming into its own as a sector – which means that capital is often still hard to come by. Even if you know that improved HVAC systems or supplementary power will unlock greater productivity down the line, it’s hard to justify the initial upfront cost of a new piece of equipment.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t get access to the solutions you need.
Using temporary rental equipment instead of permanent solutions allows you to use OPEX for your power and HVAC – leaving you with CAPEX to spend where it’s really needed.
And if you partner with a company like Aggreko, you won’t even need to take responsibility for maintenance and repairs. If anything goes wrong, we pick it up rapidly using ARM, our remote monitoring solution, and send technicians to your site to fix it as soon as possible.
Indoor vertical farming is cutting edge, but your power generation system might not be.
This can often pump the brakes on your plans to upgrade essential humidity and temperature control systems. You might find that installing a new solution puts too much load on your power system – which can affect the performance of all of your equipment, across your whole facility.
That’s why indoor farms often need to invest in supplementary power systems to go alongside their HVAC equipment.
Of course, installing new power equipment comes with its own challenges. For one thing, you’ll need expert support to right size your equipment and make sure you’re not wasting money on generating power that you don’t really need.
You may also need to keep your environmental impact in mind. Having a smaller carbon footprint is a major selling point of produce grown on indoor farms – which means that switching to an inefficient, high-emissions system could have a major impact on your brand’s reputation.
At Aggreko, we address this problem with our greener power packages, which combine:
Once you have the right partner on your side and you’ve made sure you have the budget and power capacity you need, what happens next?
How can temporary power and HVAC equipment actually improve productivity, safety, and efficiency for your indoor vertical farm?
Harvested crops need to be stored at low temperatures, if you want to meet FDA safety standards and deliver high-quality products for customers.
But many indoor vertical farms struggle to keep large volumes of crops refrigerated.
In these cases, low-temperature air handlers are the perfect solution. These units can be mounted inside a storage area and circulate cooled, treated air. They can even be mounted on the wall, saving as much floor space as possible for your crops.
In a controlled environment like an indoor farm, continuity is critical. Keeping everything from water temperatures to air conditions optimized can be the difference between an outstanding harvest and a batch of ruined crops.
That’s why a power outage or a malfunctioning piece of equipment could easily spoil whole harvests – and, in the process, lose your company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You never know when a fault or a blackout is going to hit. But you can be prepared for it – and act fast to fix the problem before the unexpected outage causes too much damage.
At Aggreko, this process starts with a robust business continuity plan. We work with our customers to identify vulnerable and vital processes, and then build a strategy that will get you the temporary HVAC or power equipment you need to keep those processes running in the event of an emergency.
That might mean installing backup generators or HVAC equipment on-site, ready for you to use in the event that something goes wrong. Or it might mean having a wide range of temporary equipment ready to roll off-site – so that if a malfunction, a blackout, or even a natural disaster hits your facility, you can just reach out via our 24/7 helpline.
Summer heat and humidity or winter chill still forces some indoor farms to halt production for several months of the year – which limits the profits they’re able to make.
But having access to precise, efficient temperature control can solve this problem and unlock efficient production year-round. When the temperature drops or rises, you can easily bring in supplementary temperature and humidity control solutions to maintain optimal conditions – and, when the seasons change again, you won’t need to pay for equipment you’re not using.
If you’re expanding your facility to increase production, it can take some time to get permanent solutions in place. And the more time you spend waiting for your new solutions to arrive, the more profit goes to waste – especially if your expansion disrupts your existing power and HVAC equipment.
Instead, you can use temporary generators to get production moving – even if you’re only halfway through construction, or if you’re waiting to be hooked up to grid power. From individual generators to whole mobile power stations, we help indoor farms understand their power needs and access the perfect equipment faster.
Equally, you can use temporary HVAC equipment to start running essential processes, bridging the gap until your permanent humidity and temperature control equipment arrives on-site.
With our help, you’ll be able to get construction moving, minimize disruption, and make sure your expanded facility starts delivering value as soon as possible.
With the right temporary solutions and expertise on your side, you can maximize the production of your indoor vertical farm.
At Aggreko, we help indoor farms reach their full potential, with temporary power and temperature control equipment that helps you fine-tune growth conditions and improve your efficiency.
We’ll work with you to understand the unique needs of your facility – from your space constraints to safety concerns and environmental goals.
If you’re interested in partnering with us to transform your indoor farm, get in touch – we’ll make sure you have the support you need to really thrive.