Trade + industry

(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 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)

Another SUNfarming solar park was successfully completed in November in Roggentin in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. With a total output of 750 kWp, it supplies clean, green electricity for more than 240 households. The CO2 savings of the solar park in Roggentin amount to considerable 443.305 kg / year.

Asked: How much CO2 does a car produce?
Again and again there is talk of the climate killer CO2. The invisible gas is partly responsible for the warming of the climate and transforms our planet into a greenhouse. But although much is discussed, many of us have no feeling for it. How much carbon dioxide - or CO2 for short - does your car produce?
A concrete example: You drive a mid-range car, consumption: 8l / 100km; the tank volume is 55 liters. Since gasoline is lighter than water, this results in about 40 kilograms of gasoline per refueling process. This gas is burned in the engine. In the process, the carbon in the gasoline combines with the oxygen from the air, resulting in CO2.
One kilo of gasoline, which consists essentially of carbon, thus leads to over 3 kilograms of CO2 in the combustion! Thus, there is much more carbon dioxide than the gas weighs. With every tankful of fuel, our car produces about 150 kilos of CO2 (exactly: 144.6 kg) and after just under 9 x full tanks we have produced as much CO2 while driving as our car weighs! With an annual mileage of 12,000 kilometers per year, we blow up twice the weight of our car on average in the air! Even more with super-powered sports cars. Each year.
The CO2 savings of the solar park in Roggentin amount to 443,305 kg / year, as many as 165 cars emit in the example per year.

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.