Growing cannabis indoors consumes a lot of energy.
To produce profitable harvests requires that you maintain precise levels of light, temperature, humidity, and CO2 throughout each grow cycle during the year. Managing your lighting and other operating costs is an essential component to a successful and profitable grow operation.
LED lighting is an essential element to reducing growing costs. Not only are they the most efficient for growing indoors vs. other lighting technologies, substantial cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives may be available from your local power provider.
Since cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives vary from utility to utility, it is important to invest the time to learn how and how much you might earn and how to best maximize your energy-efficient practices as well as exploring alternative energy sources for your grow operation.
Using LED Lighting in Your Cannabis Grow
LED lighting is up to 50% more energy-efficient and produces less heat while delivering more PPF (μmols) of light energy than traditional HID/HPS light fixtures. While the initial investment in LED lighting may be more significant than with other options, the efficiency, combined with available rebates, will prove to favor the investment in LED lighting in a relatively short time.
The profit motive for energy companies to offer cannabis grower energy rebates for using less energy is simple. In the near term, many of these companies have determined that providing cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives to use less power is more profitable for them than building expensive new power plants to increase power producing-capacity.
The reduced energy consumption from LED lighting and the incentives will offset much of the initial investment for growers, and LED lighting lasts far longer than HPS lighting.
Rebates and Incentives
While the efficiency and longer life of LED lighting alone are more than sufficient to justify the investment, you should first contact the energy provider to determine which cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives are available. In most instances, pre-approval of any rebates or incentives is required by the energy producer in advance of the purchase.
Some energy companies offer custom cannabis grower energy rebates based on a comparative analysis of the old technology and its energy consumed versus the new proposed more efficient technology. These can pay out higher incentives but often require substantial documentation, monitoring and verification.
The cost of purchasing and installing LED lighting can be anywhere from three to five times the cost of older, less efficient HPS fixtures, according to Cannabis Business Times. While the higher cost of LED lighting may seem like a deterrent for a startup operation, growers need to know that LED lighting will last far longer, require far less maintenance, deliver equal to or better yields and allow growers to reduce their overall energy consumption per crop.
Utility companies offer cannabis grower energy rebates for efficient LED installations to new startups and existing enterprises rather than older, less efficient lighting systems.
How Energy Rebates Work
Typical programs offer cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives of between 20% and 40% of the cost of your new LED lighting system. The systems must meet specific efficiency standards to qualify and typically the savings must be verified.
For example, your new LED lighting may need to:
- Meet specific electrical energy conversion standards.
- Provide specified micromoles per joule efficacy for converting electrons into photons.
- Be DLC-recognized, a standard created by a utility consortium that certifies energy efficiency fixtures.
Since not all LED lighting systems meet these criteria, make sure you understand all the cannabis grower energy rebates requirements. A knowledgeable grow lighting supplier understands the technical specifications and can recommend the lighting systems that meet your needs to qualify for cannabis grower energy rebates while also helping you navigate, apply for and receive the rebates and incentives.
TSRgrow Can Help with State-of-the-Art LED Lighting
A premier biotechnology company, TSRgrow specializes in the design and manufacture of high-quality LED lighting, power management, environmental control and monitoring, and software solutions for grow operations. An ideal partner to help set up and maintain your systems, they will help ensure that you maximize all the cannabis grower energy rebates and incentives in equipping your operations. Its lighting as a platform, powered by remote power servers is recognized by utilities as a technology that not only delivers exceptional efficiencies, but also integrates into and can support utility programs such as demand response and rebate/incentive programs.
Visit with a TSRgrow professional to determine ways to increase your grow operation's profitability and sustainability.
TSRgrow offers LED lighting solutions that provide the highest efficiency for maximum yields. Power needs can be minimized with their remote servers, eliminating the need for on-fixture ballasts while removing unwanted heat from the growing areas.
Partner with your local energy supplier and TSRgrow to lower your energy and operating costs while maximizing your crop yield.
To learn more, visit TSRgrow.com today. They have many years of experience helping growers earn energy rebates and incentives and can help point you in the right direction for your cannabis grow.
