This year, greenhouse automation supplier Priva celebrates 65 years in business. At this week’s GreenTech show in Amsterdam the company will present its latest solutions to help growers save energy costs and schedule their crops more efficiently.
Since 1959 Priva’s mission is to create a climate for growth. A climate in which people and plants experience the best conditions to grow, thus contributing to sustainable living for a growing and urbanizing world population.
Priva deserves a name in horticulture’s history books as it was the first company to introduce a process computer in the sector. This journey further evolved with the pioneering introduction of climate control solutions in the building automation industry 40 years ago, and subsequently, the expansion into the indoor growing market 10 years ago. Gaining recognition as the experts’ choice among growers, partners, facility managers, suppliers, and developers.
Priva ECO
Energy represents one of the most significant costs in greenhouse operations. Price fluctuations, weather uncertainties, and sustainability demands are a continuous challenge for growers.
Priva ECO (Energy Cost Optimizer), is a groundbreaking solution using digital twin technology and machine learning to optimise greenhouses’ energy costs.
The Digital Twin at the core of Priva ECO is a virtual copy of the greenhouse, mapping all its installations and grid connections. It also records data related to the energy contracts that are active in the greenhouse, including fluctuating energy prices.
When operating, Priva ECO gathers data while considering the location and characteristics of the greenhouse, its light consumption, energy usage as well as real-time weather conditions and forecasts. Energy scenarios are simulated and the optimal scenarios are sent to the Priva Connext climate computer to be executed while maintaining the predefined climate strategy.
When energy prices are low, ECO automatically buys energy from the most cost effective source, such as the grid, electricity or heat from district heating and stores the heat produced into a buffer. When the energy prices are high, ECO uses the energy previously stored in the buffer.
Priva One
The horticulture industry is constantly evolving. Greenhouse operations are transitioning from responsive to predictive growing, expanding into multiple crops and multiple sites. Posing increasing challenges to growers worldwide to create an ideal climate for optimal growth.
Priva’s ultimate integration platform Priva One puts growers in charge of their crops, providing the most relevant insights on whether their crop goals are achieved and what requires their attention.
The full benefits of Priva One can be best experienced by large-scale vegetable and strawberry cultivation as it allows growers to immediately get insights into which crops require attention across all sites, contributing to significant improvements in crop performance.
Growers with multiple sites producing a variety of crops can also benefit from real-time insights and predictive capabilities. For example, how to deploy energy in the most cost-efficient way for the next 24 hours*, how to plan next week’s labor schedule, and/or how to strategize crop yield for the year ahead.
Priva One integrates the solutions of those partners who are shaping the future of predictive cultivation on a large scale, such as Blue Radix, IUNU and Source.ag. Combined with direct insight into crop performances, 24/7 greenhouse control operations and labor management, Priva One aims to bring together everything growers need to manage, plan and operate at a greenhouse in one solution.
Priva PIM
Better growth results can be obtained when the application of water and nutrients is optimally managed; not just to make sure the crop has enough water to transpire, but also to prevent giving too much water, which does not necessarily lead to better growth results and can even be harmful to the plants’ roots. It is therefore essential to know exactly when and how much water is needed to ensure optimal crop growth and fruit development.
Priva PIM (Precision Irrigation Management) is an innovative system providing real-time data on water uptake, drainage, nutrient content (EC) and acidity (pH). It enables the most accurate automated irrigation for optimal crop growth, based on real-time insight into plant water uptake and evaporation. It continuously measures the slabs’ weight, the amount of discharge water, EC and acidity pH.
With the insights collected, the Priva climate control computer manages automatically 24/7 the irrigation of the crops to the last drop, saving time and costs for growers. While operating, Priva PIM minimizes water evaporation that traditionally reduces the irrigation’s measurement accuracy.
The benefits of Priva PIM are numerous: cost savings on the water bill, a reduction in fertilizer usage as well as the security of sufficient and clean water for irrigation. Through its accurate and reliable water management, Priva PIM ensures the most efficient usage of water. Precise usage of water and nutrients combined with recycling the drain water in the greenhouse contribute to achieve optimal crop performance.
