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Around 200 kilometres from Stockholm, in the town of Frövi, a story of sustainability and innovation is emerging. Surrounded by forest and the beautiful Swedish countryside, a greenhouse on an enormous scale now stands.
The RegEnergy project in Frövi is the story of a greenhouse of at least 100,000m2 that will produce over 8,000 tonnes of tomatoes every year, equivalent to about 10% of Sweden’s total tomato consumption. The tomatoes will be grown using surplus heat from the neighbouring Billerud paper mill. The factory’s production generates large amounts of waste heat, an unutilised energy source that has been wasted until now.
With the RegEnergy project, the surplus heat will now be recycled instead. This is done in a closed, circular pipe system where the heat is pumped into the greenhouse, creating the ideal climate for tomato plants to grow. Once the heat is used in the greenhouse, the cooled waste heat is transported back to the factory.
It can be hard to imagine how much space 100,000m2, 10 hectares, actually takes up. But here are some key figures from the greenhouse construction process to give you an idea:
In Sweden, more than 80% of tomatoes are imported, and the RegEnergy project is therefore a groundbreaking project that shows how utilising surplus heat from large factories in Sweden can not only contribute to the green transition, but also increase food security in local production, shortening the distance from farm to fork by minimising the need for imports and long transport times.
The RegEnergy project in Frövi is just the first of several projects in the Selected RegEnergy fund. Like the Frövi project, future projects will also include the establishment of greenhouses, where waste products from industrial production are used to produce sustainable food and biomaterials.
It is estimated that by 2030, up to 53% of Europe’s energy consumption will be lost in the form of waste heat(source), while drought and water shortages are a growing problem in several of the countries where tomatoes, for example, are currently produced. Therefore, there are many advantages in moving production closer to the consumer.
An investment in the Selected RegEnergy fund is a long-term investment with an average annual return of +15% per year.
Selected RegEnergy’s risk classification is 6 out of 7 according to the fund’s Key Information Document (KID) and you can read the document with central information here.
You can read more about the investment fund Selected RegEnergy here.
