Solar parties allow a view of the neighbor's roof

05.06.2024

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

Looking down on your neighbor from above: This is actually a recipe for success for the energy transition. With "solar parties" in the neighborhood, more and more municipalities are promoting the expansion of systems.

Mouth-to-mouth propaganda in the neighborhood is intended to warm people up to the solar system on their own roof. This is the aim of so-called "solar parties" in the neighborhood. More and more municipalities are joining the idea developed by an association called "Packsdrauf".

As the Aachen-based Solar Energy Promotion Association Germany writes in a press release, six other municipalities and districts have joined the first participants, Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Lüneburg (Lower Saxony). In the meantime, the Bavarian municipalities of Erlangen and Unterhaching, Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg) and the municipal administration association of Denzlingen, as well as the district of Steinfurt and the city of Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) have also introduced the information concept to their neighborhoods.

In the process, people interested in solar energy figuratively climb onto their neighbors' roofs. At the "solar parties", a trained ambassador explains how an existing system works to a small group of people from the surrounding area. This can be either a plug-in solution (balcony power plant) or grid-connected roof modules.

In addition, there is a clear division of roles between host, ambassador and audience for the neighborhood parties: whoever hosts the party does not have to have a solar system or explain it. Incidentally, similarities with the concept of sales parties for plastic household appliances are probably purely coincidental.

Münster pays festival organizers up to 300 euros

The solar energy promotion association is convinced of its concept and also credits the latest expansion in Lüneburg to a certain extent to the neighbourhood awareness campaign. In 2023, the expansion of solar systems in Lüneburg increased by 300 percent, with 6 MW added.

The association emphasizes the voluntary commitment of the people who make themselves available as solar ambassadors. Local authorities are the first point of contact for setting up a network and thus supporting the work of regularly employed climate protection managers, for example. "Packsdrauf" includes six months of intensive support from the Solar Energy Promotion Association - and is free of charge.

The participating municipalities also have creative freedom in their activities. The city of Münster, for example, also supports the local embassies with grants. Anyone who makes their home or garden available for a "solar party" as part of "Packsdrauf" receives an expense allowance of 150 euros. The prerequisite is that the audience must include at least five people who are not members of the party's own household. If a rooftop system is the subject of the party, the allowance is 300 euros.

The idea behind Solarenergie-Förderverein Deutschland made headlines across Germany in 2018 when, together with BUND, it filed a constitutional complaint against the German government's climate policy, which was joined by other organizations and individual plaintiffs. In March 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court ordered the legislator to take more ambitious measures to protect the climate.

Author: Volker Stephan