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Thies Schrum will be responsible for expanding the digitalization of processes and will be heavily involved in the structuring of the sales teams. As a business economist, Thies Schrum has been working at a leading international strategy consultancy since 2017, most recently as a project manager, supporting national and international clients in the areas of strategy development and due diligence as part of M&A projects.

"Through his consulting work, Thies brings experience from extensive strategy and transformation projects with international medium-sized companies and corporations. This will help us enormously to further structure and advance our chosen growth course. We are very pleased that Thies is now on board," says Martin Tauschke.

"I am very happy to join our family business and to help shaping the exciting path we have taken. I look forward to working with the team and our partners," says Thies Schrum, son of Peter Schrum.

The funds received are intended for additional project development and pre-financing exclusively for German solar projects.

Martin Tauschke, CEO of SUNfarming GmbH: “We are very happy about the trust that investors have in us. Especially in view of the current capital market environment, we are extremely satisfied with the fact that we were able to already successfully place around 75% of the total volume. This result speaks very clearly for our company, our strategy and the undisputed growth market of renewable energies. "
Despite the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, SUNfarming expects 2020 to be a successful year with around 50 MWp of completed projects in Germany and abroad.
For the first half of 2021, the project pipeline already comprises more than 30 MW.

More information can be found here (in German)

(Photo, from left to right: Karsten Balzer, SUNfarming authorized signatory, Martin Tauschke, CEO of SUNfarming GmbH)

The following article is a translation and was published on December 4th, 2020 in the Spreejournal Fürstenwalde, Bettina Winkler)

Five farmers from the Odervorland office are providing areas for a photovoltaic park, which is to become one of the largest in Brandenburg.
Farmers in the region have been concerned for years and are fighting to keep their farms going. Due to climate change, the amount of precipitation has almost halved in the last 30 years and the productivity of the soil is declining more and more.
The Sunfarming GmbH from Erkner is now promising farmers from the Steinhöfel community income independent of traditional agriculture. Double-use photovoltaic systems are to be built on low-yield soils. Means: On the one hand, solar energy is generated by the higher-placed modules. On the other hand, the areas below can still be used for agriculture.

Trees shield systems
The aim is to create a climate park that is spread over several areas. The systems should stand outside the field of vision and be shielded by hedges or rows of trees. The operator expects a total output of over 500 megawatts. This would make the future project one of the largest in Brandenburg. The community representatives are aware of the importance of the project and see a great opportunity for rural areas. They unanimously decided to initiate the necessary changes to the development plan and the land use plan in the individual districts. “The project is a huge opportunity for our company. We have long been looking for land use that is independent of the weather and offers financial security, ”says Benjamin Meise, Managing Director of Fürstenwalder Agrarprodukte GmbH. "Many farmers are up to their necks". Benjamin Meise has already selected abandoned or low-yield areas for the climate park.

Set-aside areas or low-yield soils are built on with modules.

The OderSpree district farmers' association also takes the view that photovoltaic systems belong on roofs, commercial and special buildings as well as conversion areas. For free-field systems, primarily non-agricultural areas are to be used. "In the case of agro-photovoltaic systems, on the other hand, the areas used for agriculture are not lost and can continue to be cultivated," says district manager Dr. Karsten Lorenz. In his opinion, the planned system in Steinhöfel should therefore be seen more as a pilot system in which several farmers have come together to test the new type of management using photovoltaics on very low-yield locations in terms of economy and profitability.
For Sunfarming from Erkner, the solar park on the planned scale is a pilot project.

The lockdown in the corona pandemic has shown that regenerative energies are more crisis-proof than coal and oil. The worldwide expansion of renewable energies is still in positive territory and the International Energy Agency expects growth of 5%. Electricity consumption fell, but the feed-in of renewable energies into the power grid is up to 80%.

“Due to the falling electricity consumption during the crisis, many classic power plants were not started up. It is not worth it because the operating costs are too high. Renewables are more stable and crisis-resistant and, thanks to their decentralization, have a further crisis advantage over large power plants. I'm thinking of attacks on the critical infrastructure here, decentralized systems are much less in focus here, ”explains Martin Tauschke SUNfarming Managing Director and co-founder.
"In addition, power plants need employees to operate and if they cannot work, e.g. if the minimum distance cannot be maintained, the plants stand still. Regardless of this, PV systems continue to feed in“, Martin Tauschke continues.

3.5 tons of corn flour were donated to Uganda.
The truckloads were handed over to the district government of the affected Covid19 region Adjumani on May 1st, 2020. The 30 MWp Food & Energy plant planned by SF will also be built here.
The corn flour was handed over by Prince Kimbugwe Edward, SUNfarming Managing Director Uganda, to the Kalungu district board to support poor communities.
Minister of Agriculture Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki and RDC Mr. Tukikiriza Kerebu, members of the Covid 19 District Task Force of the President of Uganda, are responsible for distributing the donations. They thanked SUNfarming GmbH and SF Uganda for the quick and unbureaucratic help.

SUNfarming successfully completed seven new projects in the auction system. The latest projects are located in the provinces of Lower Silesia, Greater Poland, Lodz and Lublin. These are three 1-megawatt solar parks erected in the Lask district of Lódz, as well as four 1-megawatt investments in the provinces of Dolnoslaskie and Lubelskie. In line with the auction commitments, all seven solar parks started producing energy in June.

"We are happy about another 7 megawatts of clean energy for Poland. We thank all involved for the efficient and professional cooperation. With a planned PV capacity of 1.2 GW by 2020 with currently only about 360 MW of installed capacity, Poland represents an important future market for us, "said Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.zoo.. "Further,we were able to secure 35 megawatt solar parks during the auction process in November; the planned investments are to be completed by the end of 2019 / beginning of 2020. However, we do not want to rely only on the Polish auction process, but also rely on PPA's (Power Purchase Agreements) for the development of larger projects, "explains Martin Tauschke.

The Polish auctioning system of procurement and an internal policy based on renewable energies allow SUNfarming as a medium-sized company to support the expansion of renewable energies and to make profitable investments in Poland. SUNfarming started the construction of the first 4 megawatt solar parks in Poland at the end of December 2018. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.

Photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important among renewable energy sources in Poland as it is the cheapest energy that can be obtained with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and soils with low soil quality spares agricultural arable land.