News

29
Aug

SUNfarming and SPIE realise substation from largest agri-solar project in Europe

The combination of solar power production and agriculture ensures efficient and sustainable land utilisation. Once completed, the installed capacity of the plant will be 753 megawatt peak. Installation of the transformer station in Steinhöfel, Brandenburg, will begin in the third quarter of 2025.

Steinhöfel, 28 August 2024 - SUNfarming GmbH (the leading developer and investor for agrivoltaic systems in Germany) is working with SPIE (the independent European market leader for multi-technical services in the energy and communications sectors) to build the substation for green electricity from Europe's largest agrivoltaic project ‘Klimapark Steinhöfel’. This extends across eight districts and will connect a total installed capacity of up to 753 megawatt peak (MWp) to the grid. The plant with a total of four transformers will ensure that the energy generated is reliably fed into the existing high-voltage grid of the regional distribution grid operator E.DIS via 110-kilovolt cable systems.

The Steinhöfel climate park is a lighthouse project in the photovoltaic sector and combines sustainable energy generation with genuine agricultural production on an area of around 500 hectares. Innovative designs and technologies enable efficient and sustainable dual use of the agricultural land with light and rainwater management under the DIN SPEC-compliant bifacial glass-glass PV modules at a minimum height of 2.10 metres. This dual utilisation has lasting positive effects on animal welfare and husbandry, biodiversity, CO2 reduction, groundwater protection and agricultural yield security on the sandy soils in this region, which have been difficult to cultivate up to now. SUNfarming developed the agricultural concept for the Steinhöfel climate park in close cooperation with an agricultural consultancy for local farms and local farmers and brought it to the planning permission stage within a four-year development period. Once the agri-PV systems have been built, the agricultural land will be used as perennial fodder production areas and as temporary portion pastures for calf and heifer rearing.

SPIE is providing all services for this project, from planning permission and implementation planning to the entire procurement of materials for the substation, primary and secondary planning, installation and commissioning. ‘With our technical solutions, we enable the integration of renewable energies and thus create the infrastructural prerequisites for the energy transition and a climate-friendly future,’ says Burkhard Sager, Head of the High Voltage division at SPIE Germany & Central Europe. ‘We are pooling our decades of experience to realise this complex project,’ adds Hannes Weinreich, Head of the Green Substations department in SPIE Germany & Central Europe's High Voltage division. ‘The main challenge here is the tight schedule, in which many work steps have to dovetail precisely for a project of this magnitude to succeed

‘The Steinhöfel Climate Park is the largest SUNfarming pioneer project, which we have successfully developed in just under four years with the statute resolutions in all districts,’ explains Martin Tauschke, co-founder and Managing Director of SUNfarming. ‘We can only realise this ambitious project thanks to the very good and close cooperation with the municipality of Steinhöfel, the citizens of the region, the Oder-Spree district, our agricultural landlords and our technical partners.’ SUNfarming has been developing and researching its own Agri-PV systems for more than 10 years. ‘Our agri-PV solutions convince farmers and investors alike,’ explains Edith Brasche, Managing Director of Project Development at SUNfarming. ‘We are currently developing several gigawatts of agrivoltaic systems - for use in crop and fruit growing as well as for keeping suckler cows and calves, poultry and fallow deer. The Steinhöfel climate park is part of our research to prove that agrivoltaic systems protect the environment, nature and groundwater against climate change and bring real added value to rural regions,’ says Brasche.
Work on the substation is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2025, with commissioning planned for the second quarter of 2026. The first parts of the Agri-PV park in Steinhöfel will be connected directly to the grid via the substation once it is commissioned.

As a driver of the energy transition, E.DIS Netz GmbH is proud to contribute its expertise and support to this pioneering project. As a long-standing supporter and driver of the energy transition in the region, E.DIS Netz GmbH is significantly involved in providing the grid connection at the Steinhöfel substation, which serves as the hub for feeding green electricity from Europe's largest agri-solar project. ‘Our partnership in this project underlines our ongoing commitment to developing innovative solutions for a sustainable energy supply,’ emphasises Petra Kortenkamp, Head of Individual Customers at E.DIS Netz GmbH. ‘For over two years, we have been intensively involved in the planning and realisation of the technical grid connection, which enables the renewable energy generated to be efficiently integrated into the grid. Our focus here is on a forward-looking and secure energy infrastructure.’ E.DIS Netz GmbH sees this project not only as a significant investment in the regional energy industry, but also as an important step towards a climate-neutral future. ‘This project impressively demonstrates how collaboration and technological innovation can pave the way for a sustainable energy future.
‘This project is an impressive demonstration of how collaboration and technological innovation can pave the way for a sustainable energy future. We are determined to further strengthen our contribution to the energy transition and to promote and implement innovative projects that drive the energy transition forward,’ adds Petra Kortenkamp.

10
Jul

The Solar Training Centre develops programs for all of Africa

The Solar-Training Centre of SUNCybernetics, in collaboration with the NGO Sustainable Energy Africa, hosted a training program focused on South African utilities for both local and international utilities and regulatory authorities.

The first two trainings took place at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, and further sessions were held at the CSIR in Pretoria, with 50 participants each. The attendees were local government officials from various utilities (municipalities) across South Africa. The training covered aspects such as distributed generation (DG), its benefits for the country like job creation, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, dealing with power outages (load shedding), how DG can impact the national grid, and how to process and approve DG in their network in a sustainable way. It also covered concepts like setting up export tariffs and installing the correct bidirectional meter to compensate consumers who want to feed their green solar energy into the grid.

According to GIZ, a key training funder, this training and capacity building programme is one of their best and most impactful programmes in Africa. The impact SUNCybernetics and Sustainable Energy Africa was making in South Africa, was so profound and effective, that Germany based GET.transform, supported by GIZ, wanted to roll out the same training and capacity building model out to other African Countries. The first cohort of 6 countries included Namibia, Uganda, Madagascar, Mozambique Lesotho and Eswatini. There is a potential for this programme to roll out soon to 10 African Countries in total.

The training for the African Countries, focused more on developing a draft template regulation for distributed generation as well as utility requirements for DG to connect to their respective grids. The training was quite challenging, as the existing grid codes, regulations, stakeholders, approaches and even their languages were different. Translation services had to be used for the first time to effectively communicate and convey the same message. The training was still well received and the hope is that other African Countries will be able to capitalise on their new knowledge and capabilities to open the market for DG in a sustainable way.

Feedback from International DG Training

“I commend you for the support given to the various countries; while addressing the real issues and following up (each training session is a build up to the next step) The continuous efforts to get feedback and needs of each country tailor made, ensure relevance of all content The daily recap of principles in a fun interactive way is invaluable for the participants” –

5
Jul

SUNfarming at the Southwest Grid Development Forum in Oelixdorf

On June 18, 2024, SUNfarming participated in the Southwest Grid Development Forum in Oelixdorf. Representing SUNfarming were Stephan Franke, Project Developer, René Weigel, Head of Technology, and Pierre Sperling, Head of Grid Connection Planning.

The forum brought together a variety of companies connected with Schleswig-Holstein Netz AG (SH-Netz) – from pure feeders to battery project developers to municipal representatives. However, the majority of attendees were feeders. The main goal of the forum was to facilitate mutual acquaintance, understand the current situation of SH-Netz, and work together on solutions. Additionally, SH-Netz's plans and roadmap for the coming years and decades were presented, including the future grid development in Schleswig-Holstein.

Some of the exciting information shared during the forum included SH-Netz's ambitious goals for 2024. SH-Netz plans to connect an additional 2000 MW. The three essential components of their target grid are:

1. Grid Coupling Points: Over 20 new 380/110 kV substations with a capacity of around 1 GW
2. 110 kV Overhead Lines: 950 km of new 110 kV overhead lines
3. 110 kV Substations: 100 new 110/20 kV substations

However, grid expansion also brings significant challenges, including long approval times of 2-4 years, skilled labor shortages, material delivery times of over 3 years, and land acquisition times of 1-3 years. Additionally, the planning basis is complex due to unpredictable feeder requests and load fluctuations. In addition to grid expansion, SH-Netz is significantly increasing the number of annual connections. Currently, 104,700 installations are connected to the grid, and a yearly increase of over 50,000 installations is forecasted for 2024-2026.

SUNfarming looks forward to working together with SH-Netz and other partners to successfully implement these ambitious plans and further advance the energy transition in Schleswig-Holstein.

24
Jun

Intersolar Munich 2024 – SUNfarming’s Agri-Photovoltaics – Multifunctional Land Use Impresses

Intersolar Munich 2024 was exceptionally well attended again this year, with SUNfarming's stand being one of the main attractions.

In addition to the topics of battery storage and holistic energy solutions combined with agri-photovoltaics, visitors were particularly interested in the agricultural concepts under agri-photovoltaics as well as floating PV solutions. Besides visitors from Germany, there were also guests from Switzerland, France, Croatia, Kosovo, India, and the Middle East interested in SUNfarming solutions.

The dual use of land for the welfare-friendly keeping of cattle and other animals, as well as the protection of agricultural crops against adverse weather conditions and drought, and the protection of special crops such as fruits and wine against excessive sunlight, hail, frost, etc., continue to be important topics for the expansion of renewable energies on agricultural land, especially in light of the extreme weather events of recent weeks.

The combination of agri-photovoltaic parks with battery storage solutions offers investors and land lessors to SUNfarming an additional opportunity to generate revenues from green power production alongside agriculture and energy trading with battery storage. SUNfarming has land and grid connection points as well as its own substations where battery storage could be placed.

"Agri-photovoltaics is much more than generating green energy in combination with agriculture," explains Edith Brasche, Managing Director of Project Development at SUNfarming. "Combined with biogas plants, Agri-PV provides green electricity, which can also be stored as heat and used for municipal heating concepts, as well as an additional energy source for the production of biomethane," says Edith Brasche.

SUNfarming will also be present with a booth at EUROTIER in Hanover in November 2024, as animal welfare facilities for cattle as well as horses, sheep, and fallow deer are a focus of SUNfarming's agricultural concepts.

17
Jun

BDEW Congress: “Simply Doing It Together”

Edith Brasche, SUNfarming's Managing Director of Project Development, participated in a panel discussion.

A big compliment to the BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries) Congress 2024 team for a top organised industry event. Under the charming moderation of Asma Rharmaoui-Claquin, we explored the challenges of agrivoltaics and special solar systems like floating PV and moorland PV.

For over 15 years, SUNfarming has been a pioneer in the development and investment in agri-PV and biodiversity PV systems. We "simply do it together" with farmers, municipalities, and citizens to protect agricultural yields from climate change, achieve CO2 neutrality for gravel works with SUNfarming's floating PV, and generate multiple benefits for land areas through renewable energy. Why should this sustainable development be hindered by over-bureaucratization, risking Germany's competitiveness?
As a medium-sized family business, we offer technological expertise, entrepreneurship, and a willingness to invest in Germany. We call for deregulation, openness to technology, and freedom for sustainable entrepreneurship. Germany has the power – let’s do it!

12
Jun

SUNfarming Agri-Solar for Poland

Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of the SUNfarming Group, speaks to an interested audience at one of the largest PV congresses of the Polish Photovoltaic Association about the future-oriented topics of Agri-Solar and Floating Solar.

SUNfarming, represented by Martin Tauschke, Piotr Budzyniak, and Anna Pilarczyk-Naprawski, participated in the 5th edition of the PV Congress, which took place on May 27-28 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Warsaw, organized by the Polish Photovoltaic Association. This is one of the largest congresses in the photovoltaic industry in Poland, addressing key PV sector topics and gathering top experts, government representatives, and leading companies in solar energy. The two-day event attracted over a thousand participants.

On the second day of the conference, Martin Tauschke had the honor of speaking as a panelist in the discussion panel “Floating and Agri-PV. The Rescue for Agriculture?”. As a pioneer of the German Agri-PV market, he presented the technological advancements of Agri-PV solutions used by SUNfarming in Germany, highlighting the benefits of dual usage concepts advantageous for both agriculture and the energy system. Additionally, he addressed the obstacles in spreading Agri-PV technology in Poland. During the panel, a discussion with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture also took place, focusing on the complexity of regulatory and administrative processes. Martin Tauschke called for joint cooperation and the development of legal and political frameworks that would allow the growth of this still-nascent sector in Poland, proposing the exchange of experiences and ready-made solutions that have proven successful in the advanced Western European Agri-PV market.

During the congress, SUNfarming Polska was also officially accepted as a member of the Polish Photovoltaic Association, where it intends to primarily engage in the development of Agri-PV in Poland.