Custom Horticultural Lighting for Vertical Farming

7–10 days

FASTER GROWTH

2.5×

MORE YIELD

73–75 %

IMPROVED UNIFORMITY

40%

LOWER CONSUMPTION

At doublepower, we have the capability to develop and manufacture tailored lighting solutions for challenging industrial applications. This includes vertical farms, where precise control and customized design are key factors.

In 2022, hydroponic vertical farm Urban Farmers CZ (Czech Republic), growing mainly leafy lettuces and herbs, requested doublepower to design and deliver a complete horticultural lighting system for a functioning farm in full operation.

The main challenge was clear: the farm’s original lighting setup had become a bottleneck in the cultivation process, preventing efficiency, consistency, and economic viability. Our task was to design a fully customized system that could respect the farm’s existing infrastructure while maximizing growth results and lowering operating costs.

Why Standard Lighting Wasn’t Enough

HIGH ENERGY COST

LOW LED EFFICIENCY

UNEVEN LIGHT DISTRIBUTION

LEAF BURN

Vertical farms are highly diverse in design, and standard LED solutions often fail to meet the specific needs of both plants and layouts. Urban Farmers CZ originally used a combination of red and blue LEDs in an 8:1 ratio from a well-known manufacturer.

The original lighting setup had the following specifications:

• PAR: 300 µmol at 40 cm above the growing area
• Fixture power: 54 W per LED light, 90 cm in length
• Number of lights: 8 per floor, connected in series per rack
• Power per floor: 432 W
• Total power per rack: 2,160 W
• Total power for 5 racks: 10,800 W

While this system produced acceptable yields – for example, Batavia lettuce reached 250 g after 30–35 days in the NFT system – it presented several limitations:

• High energy consumption, resulting in significant electricity costs
• Low LED efficiency, generating heat that required additional cooling
• No intensity control, leading to leaf burn during different growth stages
• Uneven light distribution, with peripheral plants up to 20–30% lighter than central plants on the same floor

These limitations directly affected the farm’s economics and crop quality, prompting the search for a custom lighting solution optimized for spectrum, efficiency, and uniformity.

doublepower’s Custom Solution

Urban Farmers CZ approached us while their farm was already in commercial operation for about 6 months, which meant the lighting design had to fit within existing racks, equipment, and spatial constraints.

Our engineering team developed a custom lighting system with independently controlled red and blue channels (450 nm blue and 660 nm red), allowing precise adjustment of spectrum and intensity during different growth phases to optimize conditions for both leafy lettuces and herbs. The system also emphasized efficient thermal management and balanced light distribution, ensuring consistent growth across all shelves. Depending on the stage of the crop cycle, half of each rack (40–70%) used between 250 W and 440 W.

Technical specifications:

• Red channel: 6 bars, 215 W
• Blue channel: 6 bars, 100.8 W
• Total power per half-rack: 315.8 W during standard operation
• Maximum total output per half-rack: 631.6 W
• Channels independently controlled for spectrum and intensity adjustment

This setup allowed Urban Farmers CZ to fine-tune light conditions according to plant needs, improving growth rates, yield uniformity, and energy efficiency, all while respecting the existing farm layout and operational constraints.

Results After Installation

The new doublepower lighting system delivered measurable improvements across energy efficiency, growth rate, and crop uniformity. Within 45 days of installation, the farm observed the following results:

• Energy savings: Up to 40% lower consumption for lighting, depending on the growth phase
• Reduced cooling needs: Approximately 5% lower energy consumption for climate control due to reduced heat emissions from the lights
• Faster cultivation cycle: Batavia lettuce reached target weight 7–10 days earlier
• Improved uniformity: Variation in weight between central and peripheral plants reduced to 5–8% (compared to 20–30% with the original lighting)

• Increased production: Original lighting, in a room of ~53 m² with 5 shelves, the farm produced approx. 400 pieces of “Mix of torn salads” (150 g per pack) per week, i.e., 60 kg/week. Doublepower lighting, on the same shelves and under identical conditions, output increased to up to 1,000 pieces/week, i.e., 150 kg/week, nearly 2.5× more!

ORIGINAL LIGHTING

60 kg/week

=

3,120 kg/year

DOUBLEPOWER LIGHTING

150 kg/week

=

7,800 kg/year

These results highlight the impact of a spectrum-optimized, energy-efficient, and controllable lighting system on both the economics and quality of vertical farm production.

An example of a smooth transition from the red channel to the blue channel.

Why doublepower

This project demonstrates what sets doublepower apart: the ability to deliver tailor-made lighting systems that combine deep technical expertise, rapid development, and hands-on collaboration with growers.

Our services include:

• Spectrum and LED chip selection
• Light uniformity simulation and µmol calculations
• Electrical and PCB design
• Thermal simulations and heatsink design
• Prototyping and laboratory verification
• Power supply design
• Certification for EU/NA markets
• Software and hardware for control interfaces
• Scalable series production

With our flexible approach and experienced team, we can design, prototype, and manufacture a completely new type of lighting in record time — ensuring optimal results for any vertical farm setup.