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Heating Greenhouses in Northern Climates with Power Plant Reject Heat


Since 1970, Northern States Power Company (NSP) has been investigating beneficial uses of the heat energy available in condenser cooling water at electric generating plants. The concept of utilizing condenser cooling water for agricultural heating applications proposed initially by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the late 1960’s was of particular interest to NSP, since new generating plants were then in the planning stages that would utilize closed-cycle cooling systems. Close-cycle cooling system designs result in condenser outlet water temperatures of generally not less than 85° F during the winter heating season. With this knowledge, Northern States Power Company approached the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and requested their assistance to determine the best potential application for utilizing condenser cooling waters in agricultural applications. After extensive investigation into the field of waste heat utilization and several visits to waste heat related projects, the University of Minnesota advised that the concept of utilizing this waste heat for greenhouse heating appeared to have near-term potential.