22.05.2024
Source: Energie & Management Powernews
Bayernwerk and the market town of Burgebrach have started construction of a joint agricultural photovoltaic park south of the Burgebrach industrial estate in the district of Bamberg.
On 16 May, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new plant took place. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new plant took place on May 16 and also marked the start of the first municipal participation model in a PV park in the region.
As Hannes Kromer, Head of Renewable Energy Generation at Bayernwerk Natur GmbH, explained, Bayernwerk has made advance payments. "We have founded our own company - 'Heimatenergie Burgebrach GmbH'. We provide some of the capital to build the plant and put it into operation. However, we then have the special feature that we subsequently give Markt Burgebrach the opportunity to participate in the joint company." The costs for a possible participation have already been fixed in advance. "In this way, the added value remains in the region and benefits all citizens of the municipality."
The plant is due to go into operation by the end of this year on an area of 14 soccer pitches owned by the municipality. "On around 10 hectares, which corresponds to just 0.11 percent of our municipal area, enough renewable energy will be produced in future to cover the entire demand of all private households in our market town," said Johannes Maciejonczyk (CSU), mayor of the municipality with a population of 6,500.
The project planning, technical planning, construction and grid connection of the park are in the hands of Bayernwerk. The company Heimatenergie Burgebrach will be responsible for operating the plant. Bayernwerk will be responsible for marketing the generated energy of around 10 million kWh of electricity per year. The electricity is to be supplied specifically to large regional consumers in Burgebrach and the surrounding area and will be offered to local residents in the future.
Simultaneous use as pastureland
Bayernwerk is also examining the cross-sector use of the energy in the company's own plants such as geothermal plants or heat pumps. Maciejonczyk: "Having generation and consumption in balance and not supplying energy independently of consumption is a huge advantage of this marketing strategy."
The project is to be implemented as a so-called agri-PV: The 23,000 PV modules will be erected at a height of around 80 centimetres with large gaps between them to encourage vegetation and enable the area to be used for agricultural purposes - for example as grazing land for sheep.
Bayernwerk Natur GmbH develops decentralized energy solutions and says it operates around 200 energy-efficient and renewable power plants such as biomass heating plants, biogas and bio natural gas plants, combined heat and power plants, heat pump plants, geothermal plants, pellet heating systems, gas and steam turbine heating plants as well as wind and small hydropower plants. The company, based in Unterschleißheim near Munich, also offers solutions for heat supply.
Author: Davina Spohn
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