The World's First Plantagon Greenhouse for Urban Agriculture Breaks Ground in Sweden

LINKÖPING, Sweden, February 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The first Plantagon Greenhouse breaks ground. A new type of greenhouse for vertical farming, an international Centre of Excellence for Urban Agriculture, a demo-plant for Swedish clean-tech and a climate-smart way to use excess heating and CO2 from industries. The potential is tremendous and ambitions high for the new greenhouse being built in Linköping, Sweden, near the regional energy company, Tekniska Verken. Not least, it will be a new landmark for the people in Linköping to enjoy.

Today, representatives from Linköping city, Plantagon and Tekniska Verken are gathered for a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony. Once the drafting stage is complete, construction of the greenhouse will take an estimated 12-16 months.

"I am immensely proud that Linköping is the chosen site for the first vertical greenhouse. We will be the first city in the world to test the new technology and the systems involved to develop sustainable agricultural solutions for future cities," says Paul Lindvall, Mayor of Linköping.

"We are full of praise for Plantagon's exciting project launching in Linköping. Our ambition is to support the project with smart ideas for sustainable energy systems," says Anders Jonsson, CEO of Tekniska Verken.

"This is a historic day for Plantagon. This ceremony marks the realization of the vision of creating functional sustainable solutions for the growing cities of today and tomorrow, where we can grow food in the cities in a resource-smart way, making use of the special conditions of the city," says Hans Hassle, CEO of Plantagon.

The Plantagon greenhouse, developed together with Sweco, is designed for vertical agriculture of vegetables in urban areas. In cooperation with several partners, Plantagon plans to develop integrated solutions for energy, excess heat, waste, CO2 and water.

"With this greenhouse we're developing and fine-tuning the technical systems required for vertical farming in urban areas, together with several well-known Swedish partner companies. We want to gather expertise in the field, and our long-term objective is to create an international Center of Excellence for Urban Agriculture here in Linköping," says Hans Hassle.

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For more information about Plantagon and Urban Agriculture please visit: http://www.plantagon.com

SOURCE Plantagon International AB