A project testing whether Jersey’s glasshouses can be heated using solar energy instead of oil to cut costs while boosting local farming resilience has secured more than £100,000 in funding.
The 18-month trial will see a solar-powered heating system installed at a commercial greenhouse at Howard Davis Farm, where it will be put through a full growing season to assess whether the technology could help cut energy costs and support the long-term future of local farming.
The project is the fourth to receive backing from Digital Jersey’s Impact Jersey Innovation Programme, with developer Jersey Energy Technologies (JET) matching the funding.
The trial has been designed in response to rising heating costs, which some say have undermined the viability of traditional oil-fired glasshouse systems used across the Island.
The pilot will combine solar panels, battery storage and graphene-based underfloor heating technology.
Data gathered during the trial will be used to assess the system’s performance, reliability and potential for the technology to be deployed more widely across the Island.
It has the potential to support Jersey’s agricultural sector, reduce dependence on high-cost heating and strengthen our resilience
Tony Moretta, chief executive of Digital Jersey
“Currently heating systems across Jersey’s glasshouse infrastructure are inefficient and unsustainable. Without a cleaner, cost-effective alternative, we risk losing more of this important infrastructure,” explained JET co-founder Simon Humphreys.
“We are already seeing imported produce outcompete local growers, which weakens both our local economy and our food resilience as an island,” he continued.
“This pilot will test a more sustainable system that could help secure the long-term future of the sector.”
Tony Moretta, chief executive of Digital Jersey, described the project as “a strong example of innovation being applied to a real island challenge”.
“It has the potential to support Jersey’s agricultural sector, reduce dependence on high-cost heating and strengthen our resilience. It also shows how solutions developed here could have that relevance for other island communities facing similar pressures,” he said.
