The Age of the PV-Enhanced Industrial Park

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http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=48445

A new industrial park is currently under construction in Grosselfingen on the edges of the mountainous Schwabische Alb region in Germany. The main focus of the building design? A 13,000 square-meter (approximately 120,000 square feet) solar electric power plant.

"In fact, the industrial premises only came into being because there is a great deal of space beneath the solar modules," laughs Martin Hahn, who is investing approximately Euro 10 million in the project. "Whereas others start at the bottom and only think of the benefits of solar power at the end, we did things precisely the other way round."

The 33-year old civil engineer's reasons for investing in the solar plant project are two-fold. First, there is the opportunity to reap the economic benefits of solar electricity. Second, it eliminates the need to fill up valuable countryside with industrial buildings, the roofs of which "lie around in the sun doing nothing". That is, they aren't used for solar power, said Hahn.

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"There is nothing like it in the Zollenalb district and surrounding area," notes Schneider. "Just imagine, with its solar roof, this medium-sized industrial center will generate 1.15 million kilowatt-hours a year, just as a by-product."

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