@DTOM420 check the vid out, these are in flower and more than 24" above plants
,how do they get the penetration when we are told 18-24.
@the green bandit 
just as another example ...theres loads with leds sky high.
Pure speculation on my part but an educated guess is that they can produce a commercial grade product without the amount of light that most home growers use in their effort to produce top grade cannabis. Cannabis is not just cannabis and the bulk of what’s sold in dispensaries is, IMO, mid-grade flower <—to be polite. Giant cannabis operations are geared towards maximizing profits, not quality. There’s nothing wrong with this either. I look at them as the equivalent of a farmer that produces, let’s say, tomatoes for the Walmart shopper. The product needs to be acceptable to the buyer and, most importantly, cheap enough to produce that it can be sold for a low price and still maintain the profit margin they need. These growers are NOT targeting the Whole Foods or farmers market picky organic buyer that will pay ANY amount to get the highest quality available. So, these giant producers need to provide JUST enough light to produce bud of a quality that’s JUST good enough to sell for the incredibly low price for cannabis in Colorado.
Most people on AFN (and most forums) have quality in mind, first and foremost. That means, we aren’t balancing energy costs against yield as it relates to the bottom line. So, all these videos on CannaCribs and the videos you posted shouldn’t be viewed as tools for how to set up your grow space unless it discusses aspects that are identical to your style or setup or those topics that are universal like pest or disease management. I mean, maybe if the title of the video was like, “CO’s largest AAA+ grade cannabis farm” or something like that I’d pay more attention; but the word “biggest” is code for ‘less than craft (top) grade,’ to me. I say, don’t get fooled into trying to learn much from videos like that.
On a more technical level, keep in mind that most of those are clones or just tops (after most of the side branches have been used for clones) and they aren’t worried much about light “penetration.” They have perfect canopies that only need enough coverage. Again, this is not the way most AFN members grow. SOG/SCROG growers being the closest. Most of us run multiple strains and don’t have or can’t maintain perfect canopies with nothing but tops; so we NEED the light to penetrate more than a commercial grow that’s running a sea of clones of ONE strain.
Maybe someone else with far more knowledge will come join in a tell me I’m full o’ sh*t but till then, that’s be my explanation. I’d love to hear a commercial grower address your question so we’d know for sure!
FWIW- the camera angle in those videos may also be making the lights appear to be slightly higher than they actually are; but NO doubt they’re 24”+.
hlg shedded a bit more light on it ,but like you say would love to hear from a 
