Kilbush Nurseries is one of the oldest tomato growing businesses in Ireland. Established in the 1930’s by Mathew Foley, this family run business produces over 1,000 tonnes of tomatoes each year. Their facilities encompass over two hectares of tomatoes, grown under glass in state of the art commercial greenhouse units, with integrated packing and transport facilities.
In recent years the Foley family business has shown incredible growth and continues to be at the top of the technological and ecological development ladder in the Irish horticultural sector. To maintain a competitive edge, the business utilises CHP (combined heat and power) technology to help reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions.
Also known as Cogeneration, CHP is the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly way of using a fossil or renewable fuel to provide a combined output of heat and power. Its application has been widely used in the industry to aid plant growth whilst reducing energy costs and carbon emissions.
Following a competitive tender process, Edina Group were appointed the contract to supply, install and maintain the CHP plant. The MWM manufactured TCG 2020 V16 gas engine was containerised at Edina’s manufacturing facility at Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Fuelled by natural gas and with an electrical output of 1560kWe, the MWM TCG 2020 V16 engine operates at a staggering 96.4% efficiency, around 10% greater than standard CHP installations.
The use of a heat store (buffer) enables near total heat recovery from the CHP plant. As heat from the plant is sent to the store and used overnight to heat the greenhouses as it is less commercially viable to run the CHP overnight when the electricity tariffs are lower. CO2, also from the plant, is fed to the growing crop as a supplement.
