Feasibility Analysis of Creating Light Environment for Growing Containers with Marine Renewable Energy

Abstract

Offshore renewable energy is essential to reduce carbon emissions in China. However, due to the lack of application scenarios, it is difficult to use renewable energy locally near offshore power plants. To find an application scenario for offshore renewable energy, a growing container is developed and combined with offshore renewable energy for food production. Small experimental containers were tested, and their light intensities were compared to simulation results. The light intensity range and uniformity of 20-foot containers were evaluated for some short-growth cycle crops. Adding side reflectors and using LED light beads improved the energy efficiency considerably. Side reflectors improved both the light intensity U and lighting uniformity u on the irradiated surface, but the improvement decreased with increased plant height. With a plant height of 0–25 cm, U increased by 57.4–16.6% and u by 13.1–8%, compared to the case without reflectors. Considering the energy consumption of lighting, air conditioning, and ventilation, the daily power consumption of growing containers was between 50 and 79 kWh; a 5 MW wind plant could support the operation of up to 294 growing containers. Growing containers can also tolerate short-term output fluctuations in renewable power production and they can be adapted to sizeable seasonal output fluctuations by reducing the proportion of leafy vegetables and increasing the proportion of sprouts and mushrooms, which require less light.