With the horticultural lighting revival picking up pace, Canadian LED luminaire vendor Sollum Technologies has strengthened its offering by partnering with a company that specializes in climate control systems for greenhouses.
Montreal-based Sollum described the alliance with Damatex Inc., based in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, as a “strategic partnership.” Sollum is known for automated, dynamic lighting controls that are part of its SUN as a Service platform (SUNaaS). By joining forces with Damatex, it hopes to offer an all-in-one setup for both lighting and climate.
Damatex provides controls for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and for the delivery of fertilizers and nutrients via irrigation systems, a process known as fertigation.
“This collaboration combines the greenhouse lighting control features of Sollum’s proprietary SUN as a Service cloud platform with Damatex’s advanced climate control systems,” the two companies said in a press release. “The benefits are all about simplifying clients' daily operations.”
The synchronization of both control platforms consolidates multiple functions into a single, streamlined interface, reducing manual checks and enhancing system capabilities through enriched data sharing.
“This supports seamless data exchange and improved operational flexibility, while also minimizing configuration errors for more reliable control and better crop outcomes with less operational downtime,” the partners stated.
With controlled climate and lighting both playing a vital role in greenhouse growing, more alliances such as the Sollum and Damatex hookup could well emerge. In a similar vein, last October Signify’s Fluence horticultural lighting division teamed with Dutch company Grodan in the Netherlands to study lighting’s effect on strawberries in combination with other factors such as growth medium, climate control, and irrigation at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
Sollum’s partnership with Damatex comes about a month after Sollum added features to SUNaaS that enhanced the system’s ability to reduce electricity consumption and to make use of data.
It also coincides with the ongoing reawakening of the horticultural lighting market, which had hit the doldrums for many vendors starting around mid-2022, but which has been showing renewed signs of life over the last couple of quarters, including several new customer wins for Sollum.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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