THS builds largest Solar Residential Estate in Germany
Third Solar Residential area of North-Rhine Westphalia in Gelsenkirchen
Mayor Frank Baranowski, Dr. Hartmut Murschall (NRW ministry of energy) and Ulrich Küppers, CEO of THS
Gelsenkirchen 12 Septemberr 2008. 2008 has been a year of solar triumphs for Gelsenkirchen: Already in spring, the city was able to hit the mark with the commissioning of the solar panels LOXX and Schalker Verein. Gelsenkirchen could extend its lead against its rival Dortmund, due to the THS Settlement Schaffrath, which is more than twice as efficient as the two panels together.
The 72 homes including 422 appartments, built in 1960, were modernized and energy efficiently redeveloped between 2001 and 2004. So in Schaffrath energy has been saved for years, but for a short time they have been producing energy as well. As a founding member of "Solar City Gelsenkirchen e. V.", the THS has implemented this big project.
The conditions to install solar panels on the homes proved to be ideal. They face south and their roof slope of more than 30 % is perfect. Their lofts are empty and there are no chimneys that might decrease to full utilization of the sun, because district heating is used in the settlement for years. The empty funnels are now used for the ducting.
The THS built a state-of-the-art, high performance power plant with a total of 795 kWp. The total investment was at about 3.8 m euro. Some 50 % of the roofs are already connected to the ELE power network. 29 solar panels on 63 houses on a roofage of 6,679 m² will annually produce more than 680,000 kWh of "green energy" by the end of 2008 at the latest. You can meet the annual energy demand of some 170 average German housholds with it.
Ulrich Küppers, executive director of THS, emphasized: "Energy efficiency and climate protection are inherent parts of our environmental policy. We as a certified company let it check every year. We will pursue this aim decidedly in the future. In this context he refered to the outstanding CO2-balance of THS. Since 1990 the company has reduced the carbon dioxid emissions by 44 % and with the average heating power consumption they are some 10 % below national average.
At the ceremony Dr. Hartmut Murschall, representative of the ministry, presented the certificate of approval for the residential estate Schaffrath as an official solar estate. Within the lead project "50 Solar Estates for NRW" this is the third one in Gelsenkirchen. The Federal Association Solar Economy e. V. appreciated this major project. "The project proves that photovoltaics is becoming more interesting for the housing industry" said Carsten Körnig, CEO of the Federal Association Solar Economy e. V.
(Press Release of THS Wohnen GmbH, www.ths.de)