Municipalities + agriculture

This is another important step towards the realization of the first large SUNfarming oasis for Food & Energy plants in Germany.
The metalworking Butting Group provides almost 3 ha of land in Knesebeck for the construction. The parcel is located directly behind the premises and will be leased to the project. The roofs of the solar greenhouses are partially occupied with PV modules for power generation, the area in the greenhouse under the modules is used for the cultivation of regionally produced food.
KoNaMo is based in Berlin, where actors and strategies, technologies and application scenarios for sustainable mobility in Germany are brought together.
"The Butting GmbH is an optimal project partner for us because the power is 100% accepted on weekends," explains Holger Schönherr SUNfarming project manager.
"With our Food & Energy facilities, we can give around 20 people from crisis areas, long-term unemployed and people with disabilities a chance to qualify for the first job market each year," adds Holger Schönherr.
In addition, managers should also be trained to take care of the operation and the marketing. According to the city council, the company's partners are the Oskar Kämmer School and the Federal Employment Agency.
The SUNfarming Food & Energy Training concept of solar greenhouses has been successfully applied and tested in Africa. South Africa has the best experience with this concept and we want to establish this concept in Germany as well.
The goal is to start construction by the middle of next year.

(Erkner/Berlin, 30 August 2018) On the sun terrace of the Estrel in Berlin, the largest hotel in Europe, SUNfarming has built its solar greenhouse at a height of 50 m. The greenhouse, which is covered by a 4 m wide light dome, has a size of approx. 42, 5m ² (5m x 8, 5m). The rooftops east and west of the light dome are equipped with SUNfarming modules, the generated solar power is used directly by the hotel.
The plant is used by SUNfarming GmbH as a model of larger SF Food & Energy plants and SF Urban Farming in Germany in order to present project partners, politicians and financial partners, including ambassadors from African States, SF Food & Energy in a practical manner. Under the partial shading of the greenhouse, a micro-climate with low evaporation is formed; This favours the growth of different types of vegetables as hydroponics. Irrigation is carried out by means of a water-saving drip irrigation. This makes it possible to cultivate plants at otherwise barren sites – such as house roofs or in resource-poor areas (crisis regions, developing countries).
Kitchen director Peter Griebel harvests fresh and regional organic vegetables and herbs for his restaurant kitchens. At present, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, blueberries, chilies, bavarian figs and medicinal herbs are mainly harvested here.

On August 29th the project was inaugurated during the course of a rooftop party. Numerous guests from politics and business had followed the joint invitation of SUNfarming and Estrel and had the opportunity to visit the solar greenhouse, accompanied by specialized experts who were happy to answer all the questions.

In his opening speech, hotel director Thomas Brückner highlights the great interest of the Estrel hotel in healthy organic food products and its own spice production in cooperation with SUNfarming.
In his address, Peter Schrum,the main shareholder and founder of the SUNfarming Group, emphasizes the wide range of possible applications and possibilities for development policy: "The advantages for citizens and municipalities are endless. SUNfarming Urban Farming Plus contributes to the regional supply of cities. This project offers a wide participation of the municipalities with long-term ownership, sustainable food and energy production and job security with a strong training component also for schools and research institutions ".
Internationally, the SUNfarming multi-purpose light domes can make an important development policy contribution to the elimination of escape causes. With these projects, we not only save resources, but also create knowledge resources for the future through educational offerings", concludes Peter Schrum.
More informations can be found here

(on the photo f.l.t.r.: Ambassador of Kasachstan Mr. Bolat Nussupov, Peter Schrum SUNfarming, Ambassador of the Republic of Uganda Mr. Marcel Tibaleka, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa Mr. Stone Sizani)

Article in pv-magazine (german)

In the municipalities of Wolmirsleben, Wegeleben and Hennickendorf in Saxony-Anhalt, 750 kWp were ever realised on former landfill sites, a further 750 kWp were completed in Harzgerode in the district of Märkisch Oderland as a free-field plant.

"Every year the four plants together produce proud 3.2 million kilowatt-kilowatts of electricity. This is enough to supply electricity from solar energy for about 900 households over 30 years. 11,000 built-in SUNfarming quality modules ensure a CO2 saving of 1,700 tonnes per year", explains Martin Hinneburg SUNfarming head of sales and project calculation.

Landfills are as sites for Solar Park as created, no shading, conveniently located and the network connection in the immediate vicinity. Administration and municipal policy advocated a leasing of the area and the development of a photovoltaic system since other uses are often not to be reconciled with the context of a former landfill.
In addition to the sustainable generation of energy, the solar parks have additional financial benefits for the counties, which has an impact on the costs of the citizens.
Read more about the SUNfarming Own-Electricity-Concept for municipalities

The District Council deputies decided it at the March meeting and in June it was legally founded: the SUN:BAR Photovoltaic Barnim GmbH. The project company, a joint venture between the Brandenburg BPG Beteiligungs-und Projekt Management GmbH from Erkner (sister company of SUNfarming GmbH) and the Barnimer Energy Investment Company MBH (BEBG) plans to invest in the Barnim decentralised generation and storage of electricity from renewable energy sources.

The first project is already on the verge of implementation: this year, the expansion of the landfill in Eberswalde will start an energy park. Up to 2020, three solar plants with an installed capacity of 750 kWp are to be built on the site of the decommissioned landfill. The completion of the first plant is already planned for autumn 2018.

"It is our first joint venture with a municipal company and we are pleased to be able to contribute a part to the implementation of the Barnimer energy turnaround," says Martin Tauschke, technical managing director of SUN:BAR.

"With the BPG we have found a competent and experienced partner in the solar plant investment planning and plant management to build municipal production plants in the district Barnim. In perspective, our goal is to market the electricity generated here also regionally. The participation of citizens is also within reach. One of the three plants could be conceived as a citizen solar system, we examine ", announces Christian Mehnert, managing director of SUN:BAR.

The interest in our products and projects was as big as every year and our SUNfarmer have held many concrete discussions with local and international partners from Europe, Africa and Latin America in order to create projects and to further develop current projects. In addition, contacts with suppliers and banks as well as international financial institutions were expanded. Among others, DKB (Deutsche Credit Bank AG) and GLS (Community Bank EC), as well as the international banks FMO (Dutch Development Bank) and the World Bank subsidiary IFC visited our stand to look at the development of relations in the financing of German and International projects.

Franz Alt, a multi-award-winning journalist and author, was also a welcome guest at our booth. Many years of political commitment to the "Solar World Revolution" combine Franz Alt and Peter Schrum, SUNfarming founder and honorary president of the BRM (Federal Association for Regenerative Mobility e.v.).

A delegation of the Ministry of Energy of the Dominican Republic under the direction of Clemens Findeisen, GIZ project manager to promote the energy turnaround to achieve the climate goals in the Dominican Republic, informed himself in a conversation with Peter Schrum about The outstanding development policy possibilities of our product "SUNfarming Food & Energy". The mayor of Hanoi and his economic delegation also showed great interest in this product.

"The SUNfarming has adapted its business model for Germany to the EEG 2017. We have been developing and building successfully 750kWp systems since the end of last year and will continue this 2018 with a volume of approx. 20MW. The already existing business model of own-power plants for trade and municipalities will also be further expanded in 2018, explains Martin Hinneburg, purchasing and sales service.

"We are very pleased with the Fair days! In addition to the existing customer care, we were able to establish many new contacts, which will be very helpful on the way to internationalization of the project business. We will be on Intersolar again next year, "said Martin Tauschke, SUNfarming co-founder and managing director.

We are very excited!
Our project "SUNfarming Food & Energy" was selected by an independent jury of experts among the TOP 3 finalists in the category Sustainable Development.
Since its founding in 2008, the GreenTec Awards have become the world's most important environmental award. Together with more than 120 partners, they offer large and small companies the international stage to present the best projects for environmental protection.
SUNfarming Food & Energy:
Agro-solar greenhouses provide sustainable food, energy, jobs, education
SUNfarming´s unique technology makes it possible to produce economically attractive and resource-efficient food and energy at the same place. The project is providing knowledge transfer in train-the-trainer programmes for students and skills development for people from local communities.
15 agro-solar green-houses have been installed on the campus of the NWU University in South Africa. A team of experts from North-West University and SUNfarming is responsible for the running and training of agro-solar technologies and the research purposes to identify the right crops. The generated solar power is used directly by the university.
Learn more about “SUNfarming Food & Energy”

All finalists can be found online

The first Food & Energy Training Centre in South Africa is a partnership project:
Operating project partner: North-West University Potchefstroom
Co-financing project partner: KFW DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH)
Coordinator of the project: ALENSYS (Alternative Energiesysteme AG)