ProjectSundrop Farms Horticultural Project

TSA Riley was engaged to manage all elements of this complex multidisciplinary project based in regional Port Augusta, South Australia. Our team managed the delivery of the overall project including the management of construction and commissioning and system-wide integration and start-up from inception to operational handover. TSA Riley supported Sundrop Farms in transitioning the business from a construction project to an operational facility and self-performed all greenhouse fit-out activities. TSA Riley and Sundrop Farms were successful in delivering a world-first, highly complex, renewable energy project along-side a tier 1 EPC contractor in regional South Australia. This landmark project was completed on time and within budget.

The project scope included the development of twenty hectares of climate controlled, world class greenhouse infrastructure in addition to a 40 MWth concentrated solar thermal power plant delivering heat energy and electricity to the facility.  The solar field comprises over 23,000 mirrors that track the sun and a 125m high tower and solar receiver unit. Greenhouse irrigation and cooling water is supplied from the adjacent Spencer Gulf with up to 1ML of seawater desalinated per day.

The project was highly innovative in delivering a world-first facility offering a significant reduction in carbon emissions and operating costs in comparison to conventional commercial scale greenhouses. The plant currently employs nearly two hundred people and provides widespread benefits to the local community, the horticultural industry and the environment.