One of the first glasshouses in the UK for growing medicinal cannabis will be powered by a biomass plant.
Sativa Investments, the UK’s first medicinal cannabis investment company, has signed a deal to lease a three hectare development site in Wiltshire, located near an existing 3.6MW bio-digester.
This would allow the glasshouse to use electricity produced by the plant at below market prices, as well as tap into a supply of surplus heat from the biomass facility.
The energy cost savings will enable Sativa to offer products to the market at highly competitive rates, it said. The site will also host an extraction facility and offices.
The site will enable Sativa to become a seed-to-consumer medicinal cannabis business with a UK focus, boosted by the Home Office allowing for doctor’s prescriptions of medicinal cannabis from 1 November.
Global industry standards suggest that each square foot of canopy produces 40 grams of raw cannabis plant which, in the last 12 months, has had an average wholesale gross revenue of £4.00 per gram.
Two thirds of the glasshouse will be used to grow the product and the rest will be used for walkways and seedlings.
Sativa said the project will cost about £10.5m. The company has raised £3.75m through a share placement of 62,500,000 shares.
Shares were priced at 0.25 pence each and will start trading on the NEX Exchange Growth Market on 22 October.