BadenovaWärmeplus and SC Freiburg implement world's largest PV system
- What is claimed to be the world's largest solar power plant on the roof of a soccer stadium is now being built in Freiburg in Southern Germany. Starting in May 2022, the energy contracting partner of SC Freiburg, badenovaWÄRMEPLUS, a subsidiary of the municipal utility company badenova, will execute the project with modules supplied by Swiss photovoltaic company Meyer Burger. When finished, the system will produce around 2.3 million kilowatt hours of solar energy annually from an area of 15,000 square meters on the roof of the Europa Park stadium.
The system, with a peak output of 2.4 megawatts, will cover the anticipated energy requirements of SC Freiburg in a CO2-neutral manner. Meyer Burger is supplying over 6,000 of its latest generation high-performance solar modules. The modules, sustainably manufactured in Germany, deliver significantly more energy yield from the same surface area than conventional solar modules. Meyer Burger was able to prevail over Asian manufacturers of standard solar modules with its attractive bundle of product benefits. "In order to meet both the high sustainability standards of the city of Freiburg and the SC Freiburg team, as well as our own, we have deliberately picked high-performance modules that are manufactured in Germany," said badenova CEO Heinz-Werner Hölscher.
"We are very pleased to implement this lighthouse project together with badenovaWÄRMEPLUS for SC Freiburg. This clearly puts us in the photovoltaic Champions League," says Moritz Borgmann, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Meyer Burger. The construction of the state-of-the-art solar power plant demonstrates that energy transition, climate protection, sustainability and top-tier sports go together, says Borgmann. This is because stadiums are particularly suitable for sustainable, decentralized energy generation from solar energy due to their large shadow-free areas. "Solar energy offers a lot of potential to reduce emissions using already built-up areas, to become climate-neutral and to give climate protection more drive with a forward-looking technology - not only for soccer clubs," explains Borgmann.
Meyer Burger places particular emphasis on sustainable production. Meyer Burger is the only manufacturer to produce not only solar modules, but also the technological core of the module, the solar cells, exclusively in Germany at locations in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Moritz Borgmann: "We deliberately focus on premium quality made in Germany, designed in Switzerland. Our products are produced with 100 percent renewable energy and in accordance with the highest social and environmental standards. For example, we fully avoid toxic lead in the modules and prefer to work with local manufacturers and suppliers - this saves on logistics, delivery times and, above all, emissions."
