Exclusive interview with Fluence: Provide controllable lamps and customized lighting solutions to help commercial growers

Fluence (a digital solutions division of Signify), a leading supplier of LED horticulture lighting, is committed to developing innovative LED horticulture lighting technologies and providing customized lighting solutions. LEDinside had the honor to have an interview with Fluence Chief Product Officer Jordon Musser. Musser shared the company's latest products, IoT strategies and dedicated solutions.

Jordon Musser, chief product officer of Fluence (Photo source: Fluence)

Currently, Fluence’s time-varying spectrum control system can not only reduce operating expenses, but also use the narrow spectrum outside the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) range to produce the desired growth pattern of planted crops. Fluence will continue to improve monitoring and control solutions in the future and invest more R&D resources to enhance its ability to modify and customize fabric spectra.

Musser said: "We have cooperated with many European universities and research partners to conduct scientific research related to predicting crop performance." Fluence has also improved the performance of LED plant lighting fixtures to ensure uniform illumination, reduce hot spots under the lighting of the fixtures, and evenly distribute light between devices.

Currently, Fluence focuses on optical design and strives to achieve photon and spectral consistency to improve equipment efficiency and reduce energy consumption, which is crucial to meet growers' needs to reduce capital expenditures. Musser also added: "Our team attaches great importance to the three major elements, namely how to achieve high output, consistency, and at the same time increase the controllability of lamps."

Pests and diseases are also another big problem that troubles growers. For this reason, many lamps that can eliminate pests and diseases have also emerged, such as UV-B lamps. However, considering that UV-B lights may cause harm to operators and plants, Fluence is also actively developing corresponding lighting strategies to ensure the survival of natural enemies of pests and diseases, further helping growers protect crops from pests and diseases.

In this regard, Musser explained: "After analyzing the crop cultivation process, we found that bumblebees and bees prefer specific spectral ranges. As long as the greenhouse operates normally, by fine-tuning the operating procedures, we can use the characteristics of natural enemies to control the growth of pests, and there will be no environment suitable for pest growth. Through natural methods, we can reduce the risk of human exposure to ultraviolet light." The above-mentioned "ecological balance" strategy will bring positive results to the development of sustainable crops.

In terms of IoT applications, Fluence is actively developing a new generation of "digital ceiling" IoT data collection system, which can be used as an indoor plant networking platform. The platform not only locates and monitors the health of individual crops, but also monitors conditions in other areas.

Musser explained: "The closer the sensor is to the plants, the higher the accuracy. Our goal is to allow manufacturers of these high-end sensors to integrate our products into any area in the facility." Fluence plans to establish a backhaul network to allow real-time communication between the sensor network and the greenhouse environmental control system, and plans to build a wireless network in the future that meets the bandwidth requirements of each device to attract more consumers to expand the scale of the platform. The above technology helps a single facility to conduct comprehensive visual control, identify valuable information, and further promote the development of agronomy, plants, biology and other science and technology.

Fluence’s product management strategy focuses on developing customized combination solutions, and through a professional and experienced customer service team, it provides optimal solutions for the planting methods adopted by customers. Different growers have different lighting needs.

For example, for commercial growers of traditional crops, because the profitability of a single crop is low, they focus more on overall cost optimization and have lower demand for integrating the functions of full-spectrum lighting products. In contrast, growers of specialty crops such as cannabis have varying cost sensitivities and place greater emphasis on conditions such as light intensity.

In addition, as more growers in the United States use greenhouses and multi- or single-story indoor growing facilities, the company has also begun to consolidate its product lines. As Musser said: "Fluence has also published a research white paper on intercanopy lighting and continues to develop different intercanopy lighting methods."

Musser is optimistic about the development trend of the global LED plant lighting market, believing that as growers discover the advantages of indoor planting and lighting suppliers further integrate, the penetration rate of new LED plant lighting installations will explode. In addition, plant lighting product suppliers will continue to move towards consolidation.

He said in an interview: "After the turmoil in European energy prices and the revision of cannabis laws, the overall market began to return to stability in 2023. We have also seen that customers have slowly adapted to the new normal [after the epidemic], and the market performance next year is expected to be better than this year. Compared with the general lighting market, the horticultural lighting market is more sensitive to factors such as government refund subsidy trends and energy prices."

Fluence provides dedicated and customized LED plant lighting solutions to growers in North America, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and other places to help customers achieve various planting goals