Wim Peters Nurseries signs letter of intent for cooperation with Diepenhoek Wind Farm initiators
Generated energy benefits local community in part
Someren, April 16, 2024 - Wim Peters Kwekerijen, a horticultural company in Someren with over 30 hectares of greenhouses, has signed a letter of intent with the initiators of the yet-to-be-developed Diepenhoek Wind Farm. Should the wind farm come about, the horticultural company sees the cooperation with the initiators as a sustainable solution for the company's current and growing energy needs.
The initiators and Wim Peters Kwekerijen consider it essential that the surrounding area is properly involved in the development of the ideas and the process of the wind farm and that the generated energy also benefits the local community. The Someren municipality has taken preliminary note of this present initiative.
In the coming period, the parties involved will work on a plan based on the energy needs of Wim Peters Nurseries and the expected future energy generation of Windpark Diepenhoek. They will also investigate whether a closed distribution system (GDS) is one of the possibilities with which a physical link between the wind farm and the nurseries can be established. A GDS increases the possibilities of being able to use the wind farm's local generation locally as well.
Sustainable ambitions
Wim Peters Nurseries' growing energy needs are a complex issue. Nurseries currently lean on the use of large engines, combined heat and power plants (CHPs), which convert natural gas into heat, electricity and CO2. All three of these components are needed for growing tomatoes. Since 2019, the company has been connected to a local biomass plant that produces sustainable heat by burning regional prunings, scrap wood and waste wood from composting.
As a next step, the possibility of CO2-capture on this installation and will start this fall with an innovative trial in which the heat present in the greenhouse is captured and reused. However, this switch to sustainable heat alternatives will lead to a greater dependence on electricity because the cogeneration units (which run on natural gas) will be off.
Wim Peters, director Wim Peters Nurseries: 'With the cooperation with Windpark Diepenhoek, we want to secure our future energy needs locally. The cooperation ensures more livelihood for our family business and, in addition, the project in De Diepenhoek will have a local destination in which the surrounding area can also participate.'
Wim Peters Kwekerijen
Wim Peters Nurseries is a horticultural company in Someren with more than 30 acres of greenhouses in which various types of tomatoes are grown. The company has been run by the Peters family for more than 100 years. After the devastating hailstorm of 2016, the company was rebuilt from scratch. The horticultural company has a wide range of tomatoes: small, large, on the vine and loose. They supply this for national and international retailers as well as local catering operators.
In 2022, Wim Peters Nurseries started rolling out its sustainability vision, "The Future of Tradition. This vision aims to add net value to the earth and society as a company. To achieve this, the horticultural company seeks sustainable solutions such as the generation of renewable energy, sustainable heat alternatives, increased use of rainwater, adding value to residual streams, promoting surrounding nature and local value creation. For example, they share "green knowledge" with local schools and are working with the Institute for Nature Education and Sustainability (IVN) Asten-Someren and the Province of North Brabant on an educational walking route around the greenhouses.
