B.C.-grown brothers John (left) and Steven Newell are bathed in the red glow of LED horticultural lighting at Windset Farms in Ladner. The co-founders worked with BC Hydro to upgrade their electrical service and lean on LEDs to maximize dependability, growth, and efficiency.
LED-lit greenhouse in Ladner is Western North America’s largest
Growing up on an Abbotsford poultry farm, brothers Steven and John Newell were determined to do something big in agriculture. They saw a bright future in greenhouse grown vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.
So, they did some hands-on research as university students, rising each day at 5 a.m. to start work at a Pitt Meadows greenhouse before beginning their own business.
“We finally decided in 1996 to build our first greenhouse on our parents’ property,” says Steven Newell, CEO of Windset Farms. “We built four acres of greenhouses, and it kind of went from there. The following year, we decided to look for land down in Ladner, knowing that it’s the sunniest spot in the Lower Mainland, with lots of nice, big, flat land and a very moderate climate.”
Ladner is also the most frost-free area in Canada, with up to 15% more sunshine than Abbotsford. Thanks to a new transmission connection to BC Hydro’s renewable hydroelectricity, the Newell brothers’ year-round operation, Windset Farms – now has the largest LED lit greenhouse vegetable facility in Western North America.
Windset Farms now uses LED lighting to ensure excellent year-round growth of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers that arrive quickly at retailers in B.C. and Western Canada. (Photo courtesy of Windset Farms)
‘Our vegetables smell like your grandma’s backyard garden’
To maximize production and expand operations, Windset needed a helping hand from us on two fronts: a power upgrade, plus advice and incentives that would allow them to switch entirely from more energy-intensive high-pressure sodium lighting to energy-saving LEDs.
Formerly serviced by a 25-kilovolt distribution line in Ladner, Windset connected two new greenhouses to our 69-kilovolt transmission line in 2024, while also moving existing greenhouses from distribution to the new transmission service.
“The main thing for us is the availability of power,” says Newell, whose brother John is Windset’s chief operations officer. “It allowed us to master plan, with certainty, now that we have the megawatts we need. It takes multiple years, starting with design, to build these greenhouses. Knowing that we’ve got the power gives us and our retail partners certainty of assured locally grown, B.C. supply, year-round.
Newell adds that now that the new greenhouses are producing, Windset can reliably supply produce to major grocery chains in Western Canada all year, including Costco, Loblaws and Save-On-Foods among others.
“There’s a real push from retailers and consumers for locally grown produce,” he says. “It comes off the plant with brighter colour, and way fresher. The vines and calyx are super thick and lush. And they smell like they were grown in grandma’s backyard. The tomatoes have all that pollen and the green parts intact, because they’re picked today and by tomorrow or the next day, they’re in the store.”
Windset is also exploring the potential, through a BC Hydro-funded feasibility study, to add battery storage that the greenhouses can draw from to help trim peak energy usage and avoid demand use charges.
“We’re in the initial phase of the feasibility study,” says BC Hydro key account manager Ivana Nikolic. “A battery solution could flatten Windset’s demand profile and save them money. It’s a win-win situation that’s beneficial for both the customer and our electrical system. The study will also explore a solar generation option under the Load Displacement program, which provides incentives to customers generating energy from renewable sources for their own use.”
Her advice to anyone considering a major project? “Engage with us as soon as possible – the sooner the better,” she says.
Windset connected two new greenhouses to our 69-kilovolt transmission line in 2024, while also moving existing greenhouses from distribution to the new transmission service.
Windset leans on incentives to go with all LEDs in new greenhouses
Since 2011, Windset Farms has also operated a large-scale greenhouse operation in California, but the massive 168-acre facility in Santa Maria on the Central Coast north of Santa Barbara is markedly different than Windset north. Down south, electricity is more expensive, and the greenhouses stay dark at night.
“We don’t use any lighting in California, and the ventilation is different,” says Newell. “Here in Delta, the whole thing is purpose-built for the location, the latitude and temperatures we have here.”
He adds that with big investment in greenhouses in B.C., non-lit greenhouses that can’t produce for three to four months a year are a missed opportunity. It makes little sense to let greenhouses sit idle when you’ve paid for the land, management of the business, and housing for workers.
Most lit greenhouses rely on either high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting or a mix of HPS and LEDs. However, Windset worked with us to secure financial support to upgrade to LED lighting and more efficient fans. “With BC Hydro’s support, we elected to go 100% LEDs,” he says. “It’s a trick to grow with full LEDs, and it’s taken a lot of investment to make it work. But LEDs use about 55% less power than HPS.”
BC Hydro key account manager Nikolic says the lighting project is the biggest greenhouse lighting incentive project ever done through our custom incentives program. She says that when she first toured the new facility, she was surprised to see bumblebees flying around.
“Standing in the greenhouse is a really interesting experience,” she says. “Everything is high-tech, but at the same time there’s that connection with nature. They’re striving to minimize the use of pesticides and utilize energy and other resources as sustainably as possible.”
Windset finds a way to get the most out of LEDs
Newell says greenhouse production requires four components “at the right ratio”: plant temperature, light, carbon dioxide, and humidity. If you don’t get the right levels of each, he says, you don’t optimize the genetic potential of a plant.
LEDs are wonderfully efficient, in part because they convert more electricity to light instead of heat. However, all the waste heat that HPS lamps produce can be beneficial in warming a greenhouse. Newell says that early tests with an all-LED solution produced plants with ‘weird-shaped leaves,’ caused by the plants not being warm enough at the top of the greenhouse.
Windset compensated by adding an extra hot water grow pipe near the upper canopy, helping plants to warm up and convert sunlight and CO2 to sugars. They also changed ventilation and screening strategies.
“We put in double energy curtains,” says Steven. “One’s a blackout curtain, significantly reducing potential light pollution, the other’s an energy curtain for the daytime to let light in. That way we save on the use of natural gas, heating, and keep the plants warmer.”
Windset maximized yields compared to outdoor growing while using less land. They achieved it by utilizing precision growing techniques to control the indoor climate such as, temperature, humidity, pressure, and air movement.
In addition to being energy efficient, Windset collects irrigation drain water, then filters and disinfects it before recirculating it back to the plants. Also, any wastewater is filtered through a biofilter to eliminate nitrates so it can be reused to irrigate nearby pasture crops.
“We have this utility in BC Hydro that’s all about renewable power,” says Newell. “We know it’s something pretty unique to the greenhouse industry at this point. It’s exciting to turn this electricity into food that’s close to market. Consumers want it. Retailers want it. It’s a beautiful story that we love to tell.”
