It is a raw, grey November morning in Helsingør, Denmark. Agroprojekt Ilua has now been officially launched.
We are now a real start-up — no longer just a wild idea, but a project with a clear ambition: to realise our business plan. We will develop an Arctic / Greenlandic type-greenhouse and build a fully operational greenhouse market garden in Narsarsuaq, South Greenland.
There is a long road ahead, and plenty of interesting challenges to solve. Many things still have to fall into place, but the project is moving forward and the support has been good.
Here is an update on where the project stands right now:
Greenhouse design and the “Ilua building block”
The design of our greenhouse builds on experience from places such as Canada, Alaska and northern China. We are developing an Arctic building block that can be made from local materials and includes built-in insulation to withstand Greenland’s Arctic conditions.
We are currently finalising the cast mould and pouring the first concrete block for testing and further development.
Innovation South Greenland
We have been in contact with Innovation South Greenland, who are very interested in the project and will provide assistance and sparring going forward. Both Kommune Kujalleq — where Narsarsuaq is located — and Naalakkersuisut (the Government of Greenland) have a strong ambition to increase domestic food production, which is exactly what we are working on.
We have also reached out to the Technical Administration in Kommune Kujalleq to begin a preliminary dialogue about land allocation in Narsarsuaq for Agroprojekt Ilua.
ATE Group
Last week (week 47) we visited ATE Group in Slagelse, Denmark, who develop and manufacture renewable energy solutions including vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT) and full-spectrum solar collectors. Both technologies could contribute to the energy and heat supply of our greenhouse system in a sustainable way.
VAWTs have an advantage over conventional wind turbines: they handle much higher and more rapidly changing wind speeds. That is a major benefit in the Arctic, and in Narsarsuaq specifically, where conditions are more extreme and wind speeds higher than in, for example, Denmark.
The full-spectrum solar collectors from ATE Group are also of interest because they can contribute efficiently to the heat supply of the greenhouses and to thermal storage in the heat batteries.
The Rock Flower Company
One of our core ambitions for Agroprojekt Ilua is to use as many local resources and materials as possible — both for the construction itself and for the daily operation of the greenhouses.
For that reason, glacial rock flour is an interesting resource: it has shown high potential as a soil amendment in agriculture.
However, glacial rock flour has never been tested in a hydroponic system, so we are now designing an experiment to test it in hydroponic and aeroponic setups.
Test greenhouse
We are considering whether to build a small test greenhouse in Denmark, partly to validate various technical solutions. Whether this happens depends on whether it fits within our overall timeline.
The test greenhouse would be approximately 10 m² and built in Helsingør.
Fundraising
We have started the fundraising work, including direct applications to foundations and similar funders. We have also set up a GoFundMe campaign and are currently working on an awareness campaign for the whole project.
We expect to launch the campaign during week 49 — the first week of December.
You can already donate to the project here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/agroprojekt-ilua-agrotech-for-greenlands-future
Subscribe to Agroprojekt Ilua
Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss updates from the start-up.
Thank you to everyone who supports and follows us — it means the world to us.
Warm regards,
Team Agroprojekt Ilua
Open work needs open backing. If this update was useful, help fund the next round of development in Narsarsuaq.