Folding roof from dhp on sewage treatment plant receives German Solar Prize
Servicebetriebe Neuwied has installed a solar folding roof from Graubünden-based supplier dhp technology above its sewage treatment plant. The first system of its kind in Germany is expected to generate 180,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. It has now been awarded the German Solar Prize.
Servicebetriebe Neuwied (SBN) in Rhineland-Palatinate has installed the first foldable solar roof in Germany on its sewage treatment plant. It covers 1600 square metres and can be retracted during maintenance work or storms and hail. The system from dhp technology AG, based in Zizers, is expected to generate 180,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. This will increase the company’s own electricity production from 9 to 24.5 per cent.
The SBN were inspired by reports about role models in Switzerland, they write in a press release. “Our Executive Board then had the courage to tackle the project in Neuwied and the Board of Directors was also quickly convinced,” SBN Division Manager Joachim Kraus is quoted as saying.
The large distances between the supports of the folding roof and its clear height of 5 metres enable solar production without interfering with the management of the sewage treatment plant. This also has economic benefits: “The system helps to reduce operating costs and ensure that the fees remain affordable,” Jan Einig, Mayor of Neuwied and Chairman of the SBN Board of Directors, is quoted as saying.
SBN has now been awarded the German Solar Prize 2023 for the solar folding roof. “The lighthouse concept of the Neuwied service companies encourages the municipal implementation of renewable energies,” writes the jury of the prize awarded by Eurosolar together with the state organisation NRW.Energy4Climate.