Adrian Mihai, agricultura.video
Teofil Dascălu is one of the founders of Frizon Grup, which works 4,500 hectares, of which 1,900 are irrigated by pumping stations. This year he has submitted five projects, mainly to provide green energy irrigation. Each project is up to one megawatt, in total about 3.4 megawatts, with a value of 380-550,000 euros each and 40% grant funding. Up to 3.4 hectares of land will be allocated near irrigation stations to reduce the cost of transport.
“We have also introduced batteries in these projects so that we can use as much of the energy produced as possible, because we don’t only irrigate during the day, we also irrigate at night, and then, through these batteries, we can also irrigate at night. Of course, we produce energy all year round. The greatest amount of energy is produced exactly during the irrigation period, so the investment is sized so that 80% of the proposed amount to be produced is consumed.
Making these projects happen is not a very difficult thing. “The market for consultants, European projects and everything green energy is pretty well represented. You really have to have people in the company to ensure good management and good management of these projects. But things can be done relatively easily once eligibility is declared,” says the farmer. If he doesn’t get funding, he will carry out the projects with bank loans. “This green energy is meant to be turned into food through irrigation, through getting green manure. I think there is a huge opportunity for such investments. These are the steps to take to ensure sustainability and resilience in agriculture,” the farmer adds.