- Area of the Science Park until 1985
- Area of the Science Park 2004
- Solar power plant on the roof of the science park
- Scheuten solar factory (formerly Shell)
- Solar settlement Sonnenhof in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck
- Solar marathon in Gelsenkirchen
- solar panel in front of the Veltins-Arena
- Solar settlement Lindenhof in Gelsenkirchen-Erle
- Solar power plant on the roof of the BOGESTRA
- Roof integrated photovoltaic system at the main station
- Solar power plant on the hall of Loxx
- Solar-Bunker "Schalker Verein"
- Job and Education Fair in Renewable Energies in the Science Park
- Granting of the European Energy Award
- Solar settlement in Gelsenkirchen-Schaffrath
How it all began...
The Solar City Gelsenkirchen looks back at a relatively long history in a still very young sector. It was not by chance that the magazine "Photon" started its German solar chronicle with the first solar power plant in Gelsenkirchen, the former worldwide largest rooftop solar power plant at the Science Park.
But we'll go one by one. The most important steps of the development of the “Solar City Gelsenkirchen” are presented in the following list. The political process is described separately more detailed.
1989 | International Building Emscher Park (IBA) starts. Its purpose is to set impulses for structural change in the northern Ruhr. A Science Park is planned for Gelsenkirchen. | |
1993 | The public services Gelsenkirchen and the operating company of the Science Park found the Insitute for Applied Photovoltaics (INAP), to develop a dye solar cell. | |
1994 | Prof. Dr. Edmund Handschin, University of Dortmund, founds the Centre for innovative energy conversion and -storage (ZEUS), later Association for innovative energy conversion (EUS), supported by the NRW-Ministry for Economy and Science. | |
1995 | Opening of Science Park Gelsenkirchen as the first large-scale project of IBA. Various settled businesses work in the energy sector. (Investment volume for the Technology centre: 44m euro. Owners are the City of Gelsenkirchen (51%), the GEW Gelsenkirchen (24,5%) and the LEG NRW (24,5%)). | |
1995 | The "Flachglas Solartechnik GmbH" (Flagsol) builds Germany's first solar factory in Rotthausen, to produce solar panels for the roof of the Science Park. | |
1996 | The Science Park Gelsenkirchen establishes the world's largest rooftop solar power plant (210kWp. investment volume some 3m euro) with financial aid of the EU (THERMIE), NRW and the RWE Energie AG. | |
1996 | PEINIGER Group builds a photovoltaics facade with new industrial engineering in the district of Hessler. | |
1997 | The City of Gelsenkirchen decides on taking part in the local Agenda 21. Main topic is "Energy and climate protection". | |
1998 | For the first time unemployed experts from the Emscher-Lippe region can take part in the brand-new professional training program in the Science Park, to become "Solarteurs" | |
1998 | The City of Gelsenkirchen and the Protestant church district Gelsenkirchen & Wattenscheid develop a solar regular's table, where entrepreneurs, craftsmen, city council, consultants and interested citizens meet regularly to talk about solar activities in the city and arrange roadshows. | |
1999 | Shell Solar Deutschland GmbH opens a state-of-the-art solar cell manufacturing factory in Gelsenkirchen. | |
1999 | People start to move into the newly established solar village "Sonnehof" in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck. It is the first solar village of the Ruhr. | |
1999 | The "Energie Agentur NRW" (energy agency) offers district-oriented energy-consulting. | |
2000 | Shell Solar Deutschland GmbH opens a photovoltaics - information center (PiZ). | |
2000 | The solar triangle Emscher Park, comprised of the photovoltaics-information center, the Science Park Gelsenkirchen and the Academy Mont Cenis is a decentralized project of the EXPO 2000. | |
2000 | The "Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme" (FhG ISE) establishes a laboratory and service center in Gelsenkirchen. | |
2000 | Pupils from Gelsenkirchen finance academic environmental projects with a solar marathon. A solar power plant on the roof of the youth welfare office as well as solar power plants in developing countries. | |
2000 | 1. international symposium "future energies for the south" hosted in the Science Park Gelsenkirchen. (Technology transfer from NRW into developing countries) | |
2001 | North Rhine-Westphalia, RWE Power and the Emscher-Lippe Energie GmbH (ELE) finance a photovoltaics system on the pedestrian bridge to the Arena AufSchalke (now Veltins-Arena). | |
2002 | The first houses of the solar village "Lindenhof" are finished and win the first prize of the REN-Contest "Solarpower at home". | |
2002 | Citizens of the solar village "Sonnenhof" found SOL, a development assocation for environment protection, habitation and living. | |
2003 | Pupils take part in a running competition to raise money for "SOLiDAR 21", a second solar plant at the main bus station, which is also financed by the EU and NRW. | |
2003 | The federal state government decorated the solar village "Lindenhof" as "Solarpoint Nordrheinwestfalen". | |
2003 | The "Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Straßenbahngesellschaft" builds a new tram operation center in Gelsenkirchen, having the largest photovoltaic system of NRW on its roof (250kWp). | |
2004 | The Science Park Gelsenkirchen opens the international visitor center "RuhrEnergy". The project, supported by EU and NRW, enables visitors from around the world to learn about the "Energieregion Ruhrgebiet" . | |
2004 | The Shell Solar Deutschland Photovoltaics-Information Center moves re-named as "SolarExpo" to the Science Park Gelsenkirchen. | |
2004 | Intiated by the town and the Science Park Gelsenkirchen the Förderverein "Solarstadt Gelsenkirchen e.V." is founded. | |
2004 | Scheuten Glas Groep takes over the solar panel factory from Flabeg Solar. | |
2004 | The "Gesamtschule Bergerfeld" establishes the first solar power plant on its roof, partly financed by citizens. | |
2006 | Within renewing Gelsenkirchen's main station for the FIFA-Worldcup 2006, the town, the "Sparkasse" and ELE build a representative rooftop photovoltaic system on top of the building. | |
2006 | Businesses, associations and citizens of Gelsenkirchen finance a solar project in South Africa and a "One-World-Solar Plant" with the revenue from the "SolarCup"-project. | |
2006 | Solar World AG, Bonn, takes the lead over manufacturing solar cells from Shell Solar Deutschland in Rotthausen. Since 7/1/2006, the company's name has changed to "SolarWorldIndustries Schalke GmbH". | |
2006 | Scheuten Solar Technology moves its headquarters from Rotthausen to Schalke and expands production capacities for standard solar panels. | |
2006 | Vaillant Group starts producing heat pumps in Gelsenkirchen | |
2007 | Scheuten Solar takes over SolarWorld AG in Rotthausen. The company changes its name to Scheuten Solar Cells GmbH. | |
2007 | The expanded service center of Frauenhofer Institut is inaugurated in Gelsenkirchen. | |
2007 | SOL Citizens Group builds the the first solar street light in Gelsenkirchen. | |
2007 | A residential area operated by a subsidiary of the municipal building society is equipped with solar water heating. | |
2008 | April 7th - On the roof of logistics firm LOXX the largest photovoltaics power plant is officially commissioned. It consists of 1,764 solar modules, a surface of 10,000 m² and 362 kWp. | |
2008 | April 16th - Inauguration of the exceptional solar power plant "Schalker Verein" on the coal and ore bunker of the former steel works. (355 kWp) | |
2008 | May 19th - Solar-roof-register is started as an instrument to make the solar potential of Gelsenkirchen clear. | |
2008 | May 30/31th - The fourth national exhibition on renewable energies takes place for the third time in Gelsenkirchen. With 40 percent more exhibitors it has become a nationwide industrial branch meeting. | |
2008 | June 6th - Vaillant Group starts producing solar panels for the use of solar heat in Gelsenkirchen. | |
2008 | June 19th - The City Council approves package of measures for climate protection and joining both climate alliance of the cities and the campaign "Cities for Climate Change" (CCP). This campaign was initiated by "Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), founded in 1990. | |
2008 | July 10th - Commissioning of the first solar power plant on a rented municipal roof. The company Plus-Energie located in Dortmund and Wageningen (The Netherlands) operates a solar power plant on the roof of city-owned Gelsendienste (185 kWp). | |
2008 | July 29th - The City of Gelsenkirchen is successfully certified as European Energy Award municipality. | |
2008 | September 12th - Gelsenkirchen based housing company THS builds Germany's largest solar-powered residential area (794 kWp). | |
2008 | Octover 30th - Armin Hardes is appointed as climate protection and solar representative of Gelsenkirchen. | |
2009 | March - Zukunftsinitiative Gelsenkirchen 2020 - Pilot project energy starts: initiative is to extend the city's image as "Solar City". Gelsenkirchen is to become "City of Future Energies". | |
2009 | October 14th - Canadian-based solar technology company takes over solar cell factory in Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen. | |
2009 | October 27th - PV-Atlas Gelsenkirchen published: all solar power plants in Gelsenkirchen on one map. | |
2009 | December 9th - CO2-calculator Gelsenkirchen online. Citizens can create their personalized corbon footprint and get tips for a "green" lifestyle. | |
2009 | December 18th - Commencement of first european biomass energy park on industrial waste land. | |
2010 | March 23th - Opening of a student lab for climate protection and energy efficiency. At the EnergyLab students can conduct experiments in small groups. | |
2010 | April 1st - Scheuten upgrades production line. The total production capacity is now approximately 200 MWp. | |
2010 | June 22th - On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of solar settlement Bismarck, the "SOL Förderverein für solare Energie und Lebensqualität e.V." publishes a book on this residential area. | |
2010 | June 30th - The currently largest solar power plant (1 MWp) is competed. |
