There are three things that are essential for agriculture: land, water, and light. Of these, light has historically been the most challenging, forcing people to adapt to the changing sunlight. Recently, however, technologies have been developed that can harness that light through solar panels or fixtures to provide the optimal amount of light for crops to thrive. In recent years, technology has been developed to automatically provide plants with the amount of light they need and the wavelength of light they need at any given time, contributing significantly to agriculture.

Fusing solar panel and LED technology

Solar Growing turns non-agriculturalists into agronomists

Founded in March 2021, S Watt (CEO Saeheon Lee) is a solar module company that produces solar modules (BIPV), media-solar (Media-BIPV), and plant lighting devices (Solar Growing). 

The company has core new technologies for solar products with seven patented technologies that fuse solar panels and LED technologies through technology exchanges with the Cheolwon Plasma Industry Technology Center, and is introducing various products. The company’s main focus is on media-solar modules (Media-BIPV). A media-solar module is an LED chip attached to sunlight. During the day, it captures sunlight and generates its own electricity, and at night, it uses that electricity to project video or light. This is one of those products that is a wall during the day, but can be utilized as a media façade or signboard at night. It is a product that can generate its own power for advertising, lighting, and more with reduced power consumption. With this know-how, the company developed Solar Growing, a plant lighting device that helps farming through ICT and optical convergence technology. Solar Growing is a product that allows non-experts to farm, and thus believed to be a major contributor to the future of agriculture.

Providing libraries tailored to crop-specific life cycles

Moved in as the first company in Cheorwon Plasma General Industrial Complex

Solar Growing is a new technology that provides crop-specific lifetime growth content to maximize photosynthesis according to the crop’s life cycle. Plants require different amounts of sunlight or light sources depending on their growth cycle. Wavelengths of light also have a big impact on the growth of organisms, and experienced farmers use their instincts and experience to match them to help their crops thrive. It is not for the faint of heart, as it requires a lot of experience and hard work. But Solar Growing makes it easy for them to get into farming with maximum photosynthesis.

Solar Growing consists of a body that emits three wavelengths of light for plant growth, along with a smartphone that provides wavelengths and schedules, crop-specific lifetime growth content, and more, and can be easily controlled. From their smartphones, farmers can schedule the right wavelengths for their crops, at the right intensity, and at the right time, so they can focus on other tasks without having to worry about light levels. “We have been installing it in orchards and fields for two years now, and we have seen a 20 to 30 percent difference in growth rate between those who used it and those who did not. We are currently demonstrating the data at Kyungpook National University.” a company official said.

▲ S Watt / CEO Saeheon Lee

Solar Growing provides libraries of wavelengths and light intensities of maximum photosynthesis required for growth by crop or life stage. Farmers can utilize these libraries to set the main unit to match the distance and spacing of installation, and they can also modify or create your own libraries. The company is working on adding a growth camera feature to instantly see crop growth and provide the right light accordingly. S Watt has moved as the first company in the Cheorwon Plasma General Industrial Complex in Gangwon-do, to adapt its technology to greenhouses and take a new leap forward. The company plans to build a manufacturing plant for solar panels and plant lighting devices in the industrial park starting next year.