What Is An Electric Greenhouse?
An electric greenhouse uses electricity, rather than natural gas or propane, to run its heating, cooling, and dehumidification systems. When those systems are paired with an energy-efficient structure, the facility can be powered partly or fully by renewable electricity generated on site or purchased from the grid.
Ceres was founded in 2011 to design energy-efficient growing environments. Ceres greenhouses combine insulated envelopes, passive solar design, and heat pump technology to reduce the energy a facility needs, which makes electrification practical for commercial and research operations.
This article covers the design features, climate control systems, renewable energy sources, storage options, and funding programs involved in electrifying a greenhouse. Every project has its own site conditions, budget, and growing goals, so each system described here is evaluated individually during design. To discuss your site specifically, speak with a Ceres engineer.
Why Are Greenhouse Growers Moving Away From Natural Gas?
Many commercial greenhouses heat with central gas boilers that circulate hot water or steam through a piping network in the growing space. The approach is well established, but it ties a facility’s largest heating cost directly to natural gas prices, which can change quickly.
In January 2026, the US benchmark Henry Hub natural gas price averaged $7.72 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as Winter Storm Fern increased heating demand and reduced production. The 2025 annual average was $3.53 per MMBtu (U.S. Energy Information Administration, February 2026). Greenhouses carry their highest heating loads during the same cold periods that tend to drive these price increases.
Electrifying heating, cooling, and dehumidification separates a facility’s climate control costs from fuel markets. Electricity prices also change, so an electric greenhouse is designed to use less energy overall and can be paired with on-site renewable generation that has no fuel cost.
Why Does an Electric Greenhouse Start with Energy-Efficient Design?
The greenhouse envelope sets the heating and cooling loads that every mechanical system has to meet, so design decisions determine how much electricity the facility needs. A smaller load means smaller heat pumps, a smaller renewable energy system, and less stored energy for overnight operation.
Conventional greenhouses are often uninsulated, which increases heat loss in cold weather. Insulated north walls, high-performance glazing, passive solar orientation, and ground-coupled systems reduce heating demand before any equipment is selected. Depending on climate and design, a highly insulated greenhouse can reduce heating loads substantially compared with a conventional structure.
Ceres sizes these elements using IESVE energy modeling, which simulates a full year of local weather hour by hour.
For more on the design side, see Designing an Energy-Efficient Commercial Greenhouse and What is an All-Weather Greenhouse?
What Replaces Gas-Fired Heating in an Electric Greenhouse?
Most gas-fired climate control equipment in a commercial greenhouse has an electric alternative. The right choice depends on whether the greenhouse is vented or sealed, the climate, and the crop.
- Electric air heaters heat the air directly and suit vented greenhouses. Many include a built-in thermostat, so they can operate without an external controller.
- Electric water heaters circulate heated water through a loop in the ground, radiators on the walls, or tubing under benches. They can also charge an insulated hot water storage tank, and they pair well with solar thermal systems (covered below).
- Heat pumps move heat rather than generate it, which lets them deliver more heating or cooling energy than the electricity they consume. They are the basis of the Ceres EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ HVACD systems.
What about gas-fired dehumidification?
Plants release moisture into the growing space as they transpire, and that moisture has to be removed through ventilation or dehumidification. Some desiccant dehumidification systems use natural gas to regenerate the desiccant. In a heat pump HVACD system, dehumidification is handled electrically as part of the same equipment that heats and cools.
For more on moisture control, see Humidity and Environmental Control Analysis in Greenhouse Design.
Where does the GAHT® system fit?
The GAHT® (Ground to Air Heat Transfer) system is a lower-energy air-to-ground heat exchanger that stores excess daytime heat underground and returns it at night. It reduces heating and cooling demand but does not hold a specific set point, so it is typically used in vented Ceres greenhouses. Sealed greenhouses that require precise temperature and humidity control typically use the EcoLoop™ or EcoPack™.
How Do the EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ HVACD Systems Work?
The EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ are Ceres-designed HVACD (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and dehumidification) systems that use heat pumps to combine heating, cooling, and dehumidification in one system. Both can run entirely on electricity, and both are sized from the project’s IESVE energy model.
Learn more about Ceres HVACD systems.
EcoLoop™ geothermal HVACD
The EcoLoop™ is a hybrid ground-coupled heat pump system. A closed ground loop installed about 6 feet below grade, under the footprint of the greenhouse, circulates water continuously. In heating mode, the water absorbs heat from the surrounding earth, and in cooling mode it releases heat back into the ground. The ground loop exchanges that thermal energy with heat pumps located above ground outside the greenhouse’s north wall.
Because the ground stays at a more stable temperature than outdoor air, the EcoLoop™ draws on it as a heat source in winter and a heat sink in summer. The ground loop can also store hot or cold water for later use. The EcoLoop™ suits facilities focused on long-term operating costs and sustainability targets, and it is currently installed only in Ceres greenhouses.
EcoPack™ HVACD
The EcoPack™ is an air-to-air heat pump system that also combines heating, cooling, and dehumidification. It does not use ground coupling or external evaporative cooling, so it is slightly less efficient than the EcoLoop™, but it is simpler and less expensive to install. It can be configured as an electric-only unit or with natural gas backup heating.
The EcoPack™ has an extended operating temperature range. It can cool a greenhouse in cold, sunny conditions and when outdoor temperatures approach or exceed 120°F (49°C).
How do these systems dehumidify?
The heat pump cools incoming moist air to its dew point so that water condenses out. Waste heat from the same heat pump then reheats the dried air to a temperature suited to the crop before it returns to the growing space. Combining dehumidification with heating and cooling lets growers hold target vapor pressure deficit (VPD) levels without a separate gas-fired dehumidifier.
To see how the EcoLoop™ works, watch this informational video.
How do these systems work within a SunChamber™?
The EcoLoop™ and EcoPack™ are components of the SunChamber™, a sealed Ceres greenhouse design with full system integration. A sealed design limits outside air exchange, which supports tighter control of temperature, humidity, and CO2 and reduces pest and pathogen entry. The structure, HVACD system, and SunSense™ Controller are designed together so that equipment capacity and control strategies are set against the same performance targets.
Which Renewable Energy Sources Can Power an Electric Greenhouse?
Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, solar thermal collectors, wind turbines, biogas, and fuel cells can each supply part of an electric greenhouse’s energy. Most projects combine two or more sources because their output peaks at different times of day and year.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
PV panels generate electricity mostly between mid-morning and mid-afternoon on sunny days. Greenhouses use most of their electricity in the evening and overnight for heating and supplemental lighting, so the timing of supply and demand does not match.
A grid connection addresses this. A grid-tied array exports surplus electricity during the day and draws from the grid at night. An off-grid array needs energy storage (see the storage section below) to be useful overnight.
PV module efficiency has risen steadily. The median efficiency of modules in US residential installations increased from 12.7 percent in 2002 to 20.8 percent in 2023, with similar gains in non-residential systems (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Tracking the Sun 2024). PV is a cost-effective way to supply part of an electric greenhouse’s energy, and an efficient greenhouse design keeps the required array size smaller.
Solar thermal (hot water) collectors
Solar thermal collectors convert sunlight into hot water, which is usually stored in an insulated tank for later use. From the tank, the water can be pumped through PEX or copper tubing in the soil or concrete slab for radiant heating, or through radiators in the growing space. Warm soil supports biological activity in the root zone and reduces the need to heat the air.
Modern solar thermal systems can produce hot water in very cold, sunny climates, and simple drain-back systems are a common choice. A collector’s efficiency depends on how much warmer it runs than the outdoor air. As that temperature difference increases, heat losses rise and efficiency falls, which makes flat-plate collectors best suited to lower operating temperatures (IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, Task 68 Highlights, 2024). Radiant soil and slab heating in a greenhouse runs on relatively low-temperature water, which fits that operating range.
Wind turbines
Small commercial wind turbines can supply electricity at night and in winter, when solar output is lowest, and greenhouse demand is highest. This makes wind and solar a complementary pair. Ceres works with Eocycle to provide wind turbines in two sizes, 25 kW and 95 kW, depending on a project’s electricity demand.
Bio-digesters
A bio-digester uses bacteria to break down organic material, such as food waste or animal manure, in a sealed vessel to produce biogas. The biogas can fuel a combined heat and power (CHP) system, or it can be converted to electricity with an engine, fuel cell, or gas turbine for use on site or sale to the grid. Because of the equipment involved, bio-digesters are typically suited to larger commercial operations.
Fuel cells
Fuel cells convert the chemical energy in a fuel, usually hydrogen, into electricity. Their environmental impact depends on how the fuel is produced. In off-grid systems, surplus daytime solar electricity can produce hydrogen from water, and a fuel cell can convert that hydrogen back into electricity at night (see hydrogen storage below).
How does an electric greenhouse store energy?
An electric greenhouse without a reliable grid connection needs storage to carry daytime renewable energy into the evening and overnight. Batteries, hot water tanks, and hydrogen storage each serve a different role.
Batteries
Batteries are the most common way to store surplus daytime electricity, and they deliver power immediately when needed. Sizing a battery bank requires knowing how much power and energy the greenhouse will draw over a set period, which Ceres calculates from the project’s energy model.
As a reference point, a 3,000 sq ft (280 m²) vented greenhouse may need about 400 kWh of battery storage per night. That figure can be as low as 100 kWh in a warm climate without supplemental lighting, and closer to 600 kWh in a cold climate with electric heating and supplemental lighting. Adding dehumidification increases the stored energy required.
Hot water storage
A hot water tank, ideally insulated and placed underground, does not store electricity, but it stores heat. Water heated during the day by solar thermal collectors or surplus electricity can heat the greenhouse at night, which reduces the electricity needed for heating.
Hydrogen storage
Surplus electricity can power an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is compressed, stored, and later converted back to electricity in a fuel cell. Energy is lost at each step, and a U.S. Department of Energy assessment puts the round-trip efficiency of a hydrogen storage system at approximately 35 percent, meaning about a third of the stored electricity is returned (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the DOE Energy Storage Grand Challenge, 2020).
This round-trip efficiency is lower than battery storage. Hydrogen’s advantage is that it can hold large amounts of energy for long periods, including seasonal storage. Because the system requires several costly components, it is typically considered for larger greenhouse complexes.
What funding is available for greenhouse electrification?
Federal programs and local utility incentives can help offset the upfront cost of renewable energy systems and energy-efficient equipment. Program rules have changed in 2026, so eligibility should be confirmed for each project.
USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
The USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) provides grants and guaranteed loans to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements.
In April 2026, USDA rescinded the REAP funding notice for fiscal years 2025 through 2027 while it revised program regulations (Federal Register, April 15, 2026). On October 2, 2026, USDA announced a final rule that changes how the program works. Under the new rule, projects must be fully built, operational, and demonstrating performance before applying. The rule also discourages solar PV and wind systems on cropland. Application dates will be announced in upcoming program notices (USDA press release via RFD-TV, October 2, 2026).
For current details, visit the USDA Rural Development energy programs page or contact your State Energy Coordinator.
Utility incentives
Many electric utilities offer rebates or incentives for heat pumps, efficient HVAC equipment, and building electrification. Ground-coupled heat pump systems such as the EcoLoop™ may qualify in some service territories. Energy modeling outputs can serve as technical documentation for these applications where program rules allow.
For more, see Sustainability, Electrification, and Utility Incentives in Greenhouse Design.
How does Ceres plan an electric greenhouse?
Ceres evaluates electrification as part of the greenhouse design, using IESVE energy modeling to compare system configurations for a specific site. A model can compare gas-fired heating with full electrification using heat pumps, size renewable generation and storage against modeled loads, and project annual energy use for operating budgets and financing. See Greenhouse Simulation and Energy Modeling for how the process works.
Download the Greenhouse Performance Guide or speak with a Ceres engineer about your project.
