Municipalities + agriculture

The SUNfarming photovoltaic plants on the former landfill Seelow and Hennickendorf in the district Märkisch Oderland in Germany were officially handed over on 03.11.2017. District administrator Gernot Schmidt and EMO works director Angela Friesse were attending the handing over. The power generated can supply more than 1,600 households with electricity.
Karsten Balzer, authorized signatory of SUNfarming, described the facilities as win-win projects. "Both, SUNfarming and the district Märkisch Oderland, benefit from it. SUNfarming takes over the long-term care and security of the refurbished landfills with the leases that are limited to 27 years, "explained Balzer. The 150,000 m2 landfill site in Hennickendorf, or 39,191 m2 in Seelow, were fenced in for protection. During the construction of the facilities, the properly covered landfill body was not to be damaged. In Seelow a special concrete base was created for this purpose. Both systems are equipped with a remote monitoring system. Faults or damage are reported immediately. Thanks to the support of the district, the construction of the freefield plants was possible, emphasized Balzer.
For the district, the plants have meaning in many ways, said district administrator Gernot Schmidt. "They correspond to the energy concept of the district, where renewable energies are very important," he said. Even today, these energies in the district would generate 130 percent of the electricity needed in households. On the other hand, it would eliminate the care and maintenance costs for the EMO as owner. "And the leasing income benefits the citizen," says Schmidt. For the three landfills covered with SUNfarming solar modules in Wriezen, Hennickendorf and Seelow, these are around 20,000 euros per year, added EMO works director Angela Friesse. The money flows into the fee calculation.
Numbers and facts:
■ Landfill Hennickendorf: 7200 modules, total capacity of 1500 kW. Performance: The plant generates electricity for about 600 households.
■ Landfill Seelow 11 808 modules, total capacity 2460 kW. Performance: The plant in Seelow generates electricity for approx. 1000 households.

The greenhouse, covered with a 4 m wide light dome, has a size of 42.5m² (5m x 8.5m). The roof tops, east and west of the light dome, are equipped with SUNfarming modules, the generated solar electricity is used directly by the hotel.
The "SF Urban Farming Concept", developed by SUNfarming, produces sustainable solar energy and regional food - on the same place. In addition to the solar power, vegetables, fruits, flowers or fish can be gained between the modules of new or already built PV free-field plants or in special agro-solar Food & Energy greenhouses.
Here, from one of the highest points of the Estrel, Peter Griebel, the kitchen director, not only enjoys a magnificent view over Berlin, but here he is now harvesting herbs, cauliflower, chili, chard and physalis, to mention only a few. Regionally and sustainably produced finesse and highlights for the hotel kitchen.
Learn more about the SUNfarming Urban Farming Concept:

Another SUNfarming solar park was successfully completed in Mühlenbeck in the Oberhavel region.
"Mühlenbeck" is a solar park of superlatives: on an area of 55,000 m² on the former landfill, 12,048 solar modules of the type SUNfarming SF-AT235-60P with 260 and 265 Wp power were installed. The SUNfarming quality modules and inverters used are all "Made in Germany". The energy produced in this way of 3,229,800 kWh can supply 1,000 2-person households with clean solar power in the year. In addition, SUNfarming is contributing around 1,937.511 kg of CO2 emissions this year, which corresponds to the output of approximately 750 medium-class cars.
Up to 50 fitters and technicians have carried out a "small miracle" and rammed up to 5000 posts, sometimes up to 1.20 m deep, into the ground, 516 "tables" and the modules were mounted.
SUNfarming invests 3.5 million euros from planning to completion of the plant. The leasing contract for the landfill site is over 20 years with an extension option of 5 years.
„Thanks to the good cooperation of politics, management and the executive companies the solar park could be established in record time“, said Managing Director Martin Tauschke. This excellent teamwork was also necessary, since plants of this size will no longer be possible from 2017, according to lawmakers. The upper limit will then be 0.75 MW. 3 days before Christmas 2016 the building permission was granted.
For the building authority manager Hans-Werner Labitzki the use of the landfill site is a sensible and sustainable after-use, valuable agricultural areas are spared. Furthermore, the safety fence built around the solar system prevents the possibility that wild boars could exploit old rubbish, as happened in the past.
Mayor Fillipo Smaldino-Stattaus is also pleased with the completion of the plant:
"The municipality's trade tax revenues are rising and the municipality is saving the costs of securing and maintaining the area. Again, a puzzle piece has been found on the way to the green community of Mühlenbecker Land ".

350,000 EUR in just 33 days were successfully invested during our first crowdfunding project "Sonnewalde". In order to offer even more investors the opportunity to participate in the energy transition, SUNfarming has decided to start another crowdfunding. The new project, the "Rathenow" solar park, has the same success concept and offers the SUNfarmers who have not yet invested or want to continue investing, a new opportunity to do so. The Solarpark Rathenow in Brandenburg is a free field plant with a peak power of 2,2 MWp. The plant has been owned by SUNfarming since 2011 and produces about 2.2 million kWh of solar energy annually.

Overview Investment Conditions Solarpark Rathenow:
 Funding amount: 750,000 €
 Fixed yield: 4% p.a.
 Bonus yield yield: 0.5% p.a.
 Early booking discount: 0.5% p.a.
 Duration: 7 years

Long-term and profitable returns instead of low interest rates!
Your investment gives you a solid and profitable return on traditional fixed interest rates and can also be earned through a bonus interest and a return on our high quality assets. You get a fixed rate of return. 4% p. A. and an annual bonus of up to 0.5% p. A.
As investors, you benefit from the quality of the facilities. Thanks to high-quality panels from our own quality control system, which have been tested by TÜV, our solar plants generate excess profits above the planned values. This also applies to our 2.2 MWp plant in Rathenow, which has been feeding into the grid since 2011. SUNfarmer, who invest in the first 14 days from the start of the fund, by 23:59 h on 07.08.2017, receive a one-off interest bonus of 0.5% of the invested volume for the first financial year.

Become SUNfarmer - Invest in a secure running solar park!
A state-guaranteed EEG payment and the advantages of an existing solar system make your investment a safe investment. Through the purchase agreement with the energy suppliers, the solar park Rathenow supplies clearly calculable yields.

SUNfarming has a simple goal: to create value for the investor!
Investing in photovoltaics is an economically and ecologically sensible investment. The energy supply of the future will continue to consist of an energy mix in which there is no getting around renewable energies.
Convince yourself now at: Link to SUNfarming crowdfunding project Rathenow

The use of near-natural sheep grazing as a nursing procedure complies with our ecological principles and is highly accepted by the population.
Since 2016 we have been using sheep herds to graze our solar parks in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A requirement for the functioning of the solar modules is the prevention of shading caused by plant growth. The regular care of the vegetation by sheep grazing prevents shading of the modules.In contrast to mechanical mowing, there is no dust development or damage caused by stone impact. The shepherd's checks at irregular times also reduce the risk of theft.
The shepherd also benefits from this safe pasture, which is already provided with fencing. The modules are a good shade dispenser and draft shield and the substructures offer retreats for lambing sheep. The surfaces are unloaded since no fertilizers and pesticides are used.
The nature conservation association welcomes the double use of the land, the extensive grazing has positive effects on the biodiversity, through the practiced change of the pasture the sheep serve other animal and plant species as means of transport and thus increase the biodiversity. Due to the good experiences with this environmentally friendly and gentle care of the areas our sheep are now also in Falkensee in Brandenburg -the sheep seem to like it.

With the impressive output of 3.281,76 kWp the latest SUNfarming free-field plant in Wriezen is a showcase of how to produce, clean renewable energy power on a former dumpsite for municipal and industrial waste.
It can be avoided 2.012kg CO2 emissions per year.
A special engineering and technical challenges were the concreted piles for the foundation of the support structure for the solar modules. Not deeper than 60 cm were the piles framed into the restoration layer of the dumpsite.
"Our engineers and technicians completed the plant in just 3 months, including power supply, and it was successfully connected to the grid in July 2016. 12,400 SUNfarming modules AT 235-60P 265 Wp "Made in Germany ", have been installed, explains Martin Tauschke, CEO of SUNfarming.
All work has been strictly controlled by the supervision of the landfill operator. The successful acceptance successes from the State Office for the Environment in Brandenburg.