Solar installations on open spaces in cities and municipalities, solar car park roofs or other photovoltaic systems for public and already sealed surfaces are still relatively new applications. With its own subsidiary, Gridparity wants to put such approaches more centre stage.
See also: Gridparity builds agri-PV system for fruit growing training and test farm in Bavaria
With Urban PV, the system provider based in Karlsfeld, near Munich, Germany is focussing on an exciting future area of photovoltaics. ‘Urban PV is clearly set to play a key role in the energy transition by decentralising energy generation and revolutionising the use of urban areas,’ says Thomas Gaßner, Managing Director of Urban PV.
Reducing emissions in cities
Gridparity and its new subsidiary Urban PV want to use these approaches to give the energy transition in cities a boost. After all, the expansion of green energy systems in open spaces and on single-family homes in rural areas is already well advanced, while cities are still lagging behind in terms of expansion. Yet a large proportion of global CO2 emissions are caused by cities.
Tapping into unused areas
Urban solar applications play a major role in the utilisation of space in cities. They open up previously unused areas such as roofs, facades and carports for photovoltaics and turn them into energy sources. Gridparity is one of the pioneers in the development of such systems.
Systems for self-consumption
The primary aim is not to feed the electricity into the grid, but to utilise it directly on site. This also makes the systems more economical. One example of efficient energy utilisation directly at the point of use is leisure pools. The energy required for filters, pumps, lighting and heating is huge and leads to costs that jeopardise the profitability of many businesses. At the same time, however, there are also large car parks and areas in the pool area.
The potential is huge
Such applications are becoming immense for the energy transition in cities. After all, there are few areas available for solar parks. With urban solar applications, existing and sealed surfaces can be utilised twice. These are not just the roofs of warehouses and office buildings. Facades, especially of office buildings, car parks with solar carports and a large number of building-integrated installations can also serve as energy generators.
Also interesting: Basin for fire-fighting water covered with solar modules
Additional benefits through solar application
Solar systems often offer additional benefits, for example in car parks. There, the vehicles are protected from the sun and hail and the solar modules simultaneously supply the electricity for charging points for electric vehicles. Thomas Gaßner emphasises that Urban PV wants to use Gridparity's many years of experience and expertise in this area to set new trends in the urban photovoltaics niche. (su/mfo)
