Thanet Earth is a large industrial agriculture and plant factory project

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, England. It is the largest

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

complex in the UK, covering 90 hectares, or of land. The glasshouses produce approximately 400 million tomatoes, 24 million

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

s and 30 million

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

s a year, equal to roughly 12, 11 and 8 per cent respectively of Britain’s entire annual production of those salad ingredients. Thanet Earth's main customers are Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, M&S and agency HRGO

Food production

The complex began producing in October 2008. Cucumbers and peppers are picked continuously from February to October, and tomatoes are harvested every day of the week, 52 weeks a year. The UK's largest privately owned fresh produce supplier, Fresca Group Ltd, has a 50% stake in the trading business that sells all the crops grown at the site, Thanet Earth Marketing Limited. The remaining 50% of Thanet Earth Marketing Limited is owned by three salad growing specialist companies which each owns and operates a glasshouse at the site – Kaaij Greenhouses UK,

Rainbow Growers A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows ...

and a six hectare glasshouse owned by A&A. Planning permission exists for a further four greenhouses on the site, making seven in total; in time for planting vine tomatoes in January 2013 they built an additional eight hectares of greenhouses

Power

Thanet Earth on Planet Thanet - geograph

The complex is powered by

combined heat and power Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elect ...

systems that create heat, power and carbon dioxide (which is absorbed by the plants) for the greenhouses. Through a partnership with a Virtual power plant they also export their excess power to the grid and automatically add extra power to the grid at times of peak demand.

Controversies

In it was reported that during misty nights the lit glasshouses were a source of light pollution in the form of a clearly visible night glow. The company were quoted as saying that "For ventilation purposes we have to leave tiny gaps where the blinds meet. Even when the blinds are fully closed we estimate that approximately 2 per cent of area is uncovered."

Media

As the first of its kind in the UK, the Thanet Earth project received minor, but national coverage.

References

External links