Status from Narsarsuaq: the project is now on the ground

We have now landed in Narsarsuaq and have spent the first period getting to know the area, the landscape and the actual sites that the project will build on.

It makes a difference to be here. From a distance you can draw, calculate and plan a great deal. But it is only when you stand in the valley, see the terrain, the wind, the sun, the infrastructure and the actual distances, that the project becomes truly concrete.

Since the first project description was written, Agroprojekt Ilua has matured significantly. It is no longer just an idea about local food production in the Arctic. It is now a concrete development project with technical tracks, partners, area clarifications and a clear next step.

Dialogue with Drivadan A/S

We have begun substantive discussions with Drivadan A/S, whom we are working to bring on board as a central technical partner in the development of our Arctic type-greenhouse.

The aim is for the first prototype greenhouse to be designed as a robust and realistic build kit that can be erected in Narsarsuaq next spring. It must not be a standard greenhouse moved north. It must be a greenhouse developed for Arctic and sub-Arctic conditions: wind, snow, low temperatures, low winter sun and long bright summers.

The prototype facility will be used to test construction, materials, thermal mass, cultivation methods and operation under real-world conditions.

Next phase: technology and microclimate

We have also held a series of meetings and are now working intensively to secure the financing for the next phase of the project.

That phase consists of two main tracks:

1. the technological development of Ilua’s Arctic type-greenhouse
2. a separate study of microclimate and landscape-based cultivation design

The microclimate track has become more and more central to the work. Because the question is not only how to build a greenhouse in the Arctic. The question is also how to shape the cultivation environment around it.

Wind, sun, terrain, heat accumulation and shelter mean a lot in South Greenland. Even small changes in the landscape can produce large differences in temperature, evaporation, snow conditions and growing season.

A small piece of basic research

As far as we can see, there is not much concrete knowledge available on how to design the optimal microclimate facility as a landscape structure for Arctic or sub-Arctic cultivation.

There is experience with windbreaks, walls, terraces, greenhouses and passive solar systems. But a proper, integrated study of the form of a microclimate facility — adapted to South Greenland — appears to be missing.

So we are probably engaged in a small piece of basic research.

The preliminary calculations indicate that an optimised microclimate design could, in the best scenarios, extend the open-field growing season in South Greenland by approximately one to two months. That is significant potential.

But these are still early calculations. They will need to be verified through simulations, models and, later, practical trials on site.

Form, shelter and warmth

The first sketches indicate that form is decisive.

An effective microclimate facility appears to need an elliptical or parabolic main form. Not as architectural decoration, but because the form can shape wind, solar gain, heat accumulation and shelter.

The basic idea is an open cultivation space surrounded by an earth berm. The berm is higher to the north and lower to the south, so it shelters from cold wind while still letting the sun in.

In this way the facility can create a warmer, more stable and more cultivation-friendly space without being a closed greenhouse.

It is precisely this kind of passive solution that we believe will be decisive for Arctic agriculture. Not just more energy, more technology and more equipment, but better use of the place’s own forces: sun, terrain, shelter, mass and form.

The next steps

The coming period is therefore about getting the financing, the partnerships and the technical foundation in place.

And we have a brand new website on the way, which will carry much more, and much deeper, information about the project. We are also preparing a small crowdfunding campaign — but more on that later.

Best regards from Narsarsuaq.