Recently searched
    Medical Power Solutions – Standards deliver safety

    A Green Partnership with ABB

    ABB's Green Partnership: Revolutionizing Energy Efficiency in American Greenhouses

    Discover how ABB teamed up with Rexel, a global leader in the distribution of electrical supplies and services, and GST to deliver 30 percent energy savings for a large greenhouse complex in the United States.

    The Challenge

    Managing energy costs and complying with stringent regulations pose significant challenges for greenhouse complexes, especially in the United States.

    The Solution

    The project involved ABB, GST and Rexel joining forces to deliver an optimal customer experience for a lamp-starting solution with assimilation lighting for horticultural greenhouses in the US. Dutch-owned GST builds tailor-made control panels and distribution boards to help horticultural businesses create the best growing environment for their crops.

    For a customer in the U.S. with a large greenhouse complex for vegetables, GST designed a number of control cabinets for assimilation lighting featuring ABB’s lamp starter combinations. ABB was able to bring its extensive knowledge of exporting to the United States to benefit the installation. Since the project needed to comply with U.S. legislation and inspection standards, the specific ABB solution involved UL/CSA certified lamp-starter combinations.

    The Results

    With its clever pre-assembled design, the solution provided several key customer benefits, including a 75 percent reduction in installation time and costs. To make compact building possible, the lamp-starter combinations give off 10 to 20 percent less heat than competing starters, and ABB AF contactors with electronic coils deliver significant additional energy savings.

    “Our AF contactors can make a sizeable difference in the costs of power, logistics and administration”, said ABB Segment Manager for the Netherlands, Jan Willem Hinfelaar. “The same contactors are available all over the world through ABB’s global support system, and the AC/DC coil covers all standard network voltages. Such benefits can mean real savings for facilities like these greenhouses that operate continuously.”

    Rexel’s one-stop shop and its packaging and logistics solutions delivered additional time and cost savings.

    As John Bong A Jan from Rexel said: “When it comes to greenhouse horticulture, the Dutch region of Westland is one of the most important in the world. Thanks to years of experience and expertise in horticulture, Rexel is a reliable partner for installation companies operating in horticulture businesses in the Netherlands. The short lines of communications mean that GST can always get quick answers to their questions. Joint expertise, Rexel’s one-stop shop, and its packaging and logistics solutions delivered further time and cost savings.”

    ©ABB 2020. All rights reserved.

    ABB's AF Contactors

    ABB's AF Contactors - The Benefits

    • The AF technology used in the ABB contactors ensures an 80% reduction in contactor coil consumption compared to conventional AC contactors.
    • The ABB AF contactors are designed to work with premium-efficiency motors, which are commonly used in greenhouse ventilation and other applications. By pairing the energy-efficient motors with the optimized AF contactors, the overall energy consumption of the greenhouse systems can be reduced.
    • The lower heat dissipation of the AF contactors, due to the reduced coil consumption, allows for increased installation density in the control panels. This can lead to more compact and space-efficient panel designs, further improving the overall energy efficiency of the greenhouse systems.

    To the AF Series