Massachusetts Commercial Grow Lighting
Massachusetts Commercial Grow Lighting
Massachusetts is rolling out new regulations restricting lighting wattage in commercial growing operations, with 2 different tiers of requirements based on total canopy area. It is important to know what these laws mean and how they will impact your ability to grow and flower if you are planning a commercial grow in Massachusetts.
Specifically, in 935 CMR 500: Adult use of marijuana: 500.120: 11(b) states the following:
(b) The Lighting Power Densities (LPD) for cultivation space must not exceed an average of 36 watts per gross square foot of active and growing space canopy, but for Tier 1 and Tier 2 a requirement of 50 watts per gross square foot of active canopy or growing unless otherwise determined in guidelines issued by the Commission.
An obvious solution to this challenge is to increase the canopy size in the facility to achieve desired production levels, but this also increases costs significantly and therefore long-term profitability. Larger facilities are more costly to set up, and ongoing costs to maintain that larger space will impact production costs.
Rather than burdening your operation with these additional capital and operating costs, utilizing efficient lighting can ensure you get the yields you want from a properly sized facility. Black Dog LED can provide custom lighting plans for your facility that comply with the regulations and still provide commercial levels of Cannabis production.
For a Massachusetts Tier 1 or Tier 2 facility, the regulations restrict lighting to 50 watts per square foot of canopy space on average; for Tier 3-7 the restriction is 36 watts per square foot of canopy on average. These are "blended" averages across the entire facility, so in a flower room the actual watts per square foot can be higher if there is a corresponding lower wattage density in vegetative growth rooms.
These sample vegetative and flower room layouts are compliant with Massachusetts regulations and demonstrate how we can achieve commercial-grade lighting levels within the restrictions:
Black Dog LED can provide you with:
- Custom commercial light layout diagram compliant with any regulations in Massachusetts or any other state
- PAR / PPFD maps
- Custom profitability / ROI analyses
- Electrical and HVAC requirements
- Utility rebates up to 50%
- Up to 60% reduction in cooling costs