Case Study | Combined Heat & Power

DT ENTERPRISE FARMS

Overcoming electricity supply shortage.

Download PDF
 
 


BACKGROUND

DT Enterprise Farms was established in the year 2000 by brothers Tony and Don Mastronardi, where it started out with a 7-acre operation, and went on to build an additional 9 acres one year later.

 



THE PROBLEM

As DT Farms was in growth mode once again in 2020 with plans to add a new state-of-the-art range, they were held back by a crucial power problem. Ontario hydro did not have enough infrastructure to supply the amount of electricity needed to operate the new grow lights.

Naturally, this capacity shortage has presented problems for many Ontario greenhouses and other businesses with substantial power needs; holding them back from realizing their full growth potential..




OUR SOLUTION

“When DT Farms reached out to us at T&T Power Group, it was a really familiar story”, explained T&T Power Group’s Tilo McAlister. “They were looking to expand their greenhouse operation with a new facility and grow lights, but they were told by the local utility company that the power simply just wasn’t available. While the area has an electricity supply shortage, they definitely don’t have a gas supply shortage - and that really created the opportunity.”

With its own generator shop and panel shops, T&T Power Group was able to provide a turnkey combined heat and power solution to take DT Enterprise Farms completely off-grid while still providing electricity at a very reasonable cost. Two high-efficiency Siemens SGE-56SL natural gas engines generate up to 2MW of electrical power continuously - enough to supply the entire operating load of the new facility.

Since greenhouses like DT Farms have a large thermal load in addition to the electrical load, it’s possible to recover all wasted heat from the coolant and the exhaust on the generators, to be converted into hot water that can actually be used in the facility - which is exactly what T&T Power arranged for DT Farms.