WIRSOL, a Germany-based solar service provider, has announced the completion of Europes largest crystalline rooftop solar plant. The solar power plant with a peak capacity of 8.1 megawatts (MW) has been installed on the distribution center of the pfenning logistics GmbH in Heddesheim (southern Germany) and is yet another building block for the sustainably built logistics center "multicuberhein-neckar".
The roofs of the two hall complexes have a total area of eleven hectares.
"In this size, we usually build solar parks," explains Dennis Seiberth,
WIRSOL president of the business unit international large-scale projects.
"However, we were ambitious and eager to realize the plant within four
weeks." At the end of July, the solar power plant went on the grid
according to plan.
"We are happy that we can now partially generate our electricity by
ourselves," says Karl-Martin Pfenning, owner and managing partner of the
pfenning group. "With the photovoltaic installation, we can annually save
up to 5,171 tons of carbon," Pfenning continues. Over 33,000 modules on the
roof, which are angled in east-west orientation, produce as much clean
power that it could potentially cover the demand of about 1,846 families.
Thus, the solar power plant is the largest own consumption plant in Europe
so far.
The recently constructed building "multicube rhein-Neckar", which has been
taken over by Union Investment in 2012, is characterized by its flexible
building structure. Prior to its completion, it has been pre-certified by
the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) with the highest award in
gold for being ecologically efficient.
Due to the lowered system costs for solar power plants, it is possible to
gain solid yield return with photovoltaics in spite of the cut-backs in the
feed-in tariff system. For energy-intensive companies In particular, the
use of self-produced sun power means substantial cost savings and short
amortization periods.
