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Planning solar power systems with photovoltaic solutions for freight forwarding companies and contract logistics

The EU Green Deal is the centerpiece of the new climate protection law and is driving developments and measures forward. In some German states, legal regulations already mandate the installation of photovoltaic systems in new logistics buildings. The requirement for solar panels in existing logistics buildings and centers will follow. Initial announcements regarding this have already been made by politicians, as the EU aims to be the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

How we continue to secure the infrastructure of our key industries will be crucial for the future! In Germany today, key industries include the automotive industry, construction industry, food industry, chemical industry, electrical industry, energy production, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding.

The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has demonstrated that the functioning supply chain management of trade and industry is largely due to the logistical expertise of freight forwarders and contract logistics providers. The fact that there were "only" shortages like the "toilet paper crisis" will remain a humorous footnote in the future.

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• Suitable for both pitched and flat roofs, all without roof penetrations

Photovoltaics overtakes conventional power plants – @shutterstock | Martin Lisner

The importance of photovoltaics for domestic electricity generation continues to grow unabated. A recent analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute revealed that solar and wind energy shared the top spot in net electricity generation in Germany for the first time in June. According to the analysis, photovoltaic systems in Germany contributed 7.04 terawatt-hours (TW) to electricity generation.

This put them just slightly behind wind turbines, which reached 7.09 TW. In comparison, gas-fired power plants (6.5 TW) and lignite-fired power plants (6.4 TW) performed significantly worse. The 18.3 percent share for photovoltaics thus clearly demonstrates why it is rightly considered by many to be the preferred technology for the energy transition.

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• Photovoltaics surpasses conventional power plants

Photovoltaics in North Rhine-Westphalia – @shutterstock | brichuas

Nationwide, around one in ten terawatt hours of electricity from renewable energies comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV).

With over 288,000 renewable energy installations and a capacity of 23.3 terawatt-hours, renewable energy sources supplied over 16 percent of North Rhine-Westphalia's electricity consumption in 2019. This amount alone could completely power Bremen, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The approximately eleven million rooftops in North Rhine-Westphalia have an estimated potential for 68 terawatt-hours of solar power. So far, only about 4 terawatt-hours have been realized, representing just three percent of the current electricity consumption in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Particularly high potential for solar power generation exists in densely populated regions such as Cologne, Düsseldorf, and the Ruhr area. Realizing this potential could result in savings of approximately 30 million tons of CO2. This corresponds to roughly ten percent of North Rhine-Westphalia's current greenhouse gas emissions.

The largest increase in installed capacity, approximately 470 megawatts, was recorded in the photovoltaic sector last year. This marks the fourth consecutive year that photovoltaic capacity has exceeded the previous year's increase.

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• The solar gold of 68 terawatt hours in North Rhine-Westphalia

Converting company parking lots or shopping center parking spaces to solar carports – Image: Xpert.Digital / PATSUDA PARAMEE|Shutterstock.com

Now everything is supposed to happen very quickly: the transformation in mobility. The way we get around. For decades, we were told that oil reserves were dwindling and wouldn't last much longer. The figures were always 40, 50, even 100 years. Yet, little happened in terms of transport policy, because fuel still seemed to flow freely from the pump at the gas station. It's all the more surprising, then, that this argument is no longer even being raised. We've always known that our current form of transportation with combustion engines needed an alternative. That we can't continue like this in the long run, regardless of the environmental impact of our beloved gasoline and diesel vehicles. Electromobility is still in its infancy. It still has many flaws. But it also can't draw on decades of development like combustion engines, where improvements and optimizations, from emissions to fuel consumption, went hand in hand. Dieselgate, the diesel emissions scandal, not to mention the diesel scandal.

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• Photovoltaics (PV): Building a solar carport and solar system on a flat roof

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Solar park with grazing sheep – @shutterstock | David Jancik

A study commissioned by the German Association of New Energy Industries (bne) concludes that solar parks have a positive effect on biodiversity.

The aim of the study was to show whether and to what extent solar parks can contribute to floristic and faunistic biodiversity.

For this purpose, documentation on the vegetation and fauna of 75 solar parks in Germany was evaluated. The studies and investigations available for the parks, which are spread across nine federal states, were mostly conducted during the permitting phases and are highly heterogeneous. Nevertheless, documentation from almost 40% of the solar parks eligible for evaluation could be used. For some parks, intensive studies also exist, in some cases comparing the federal states before and after the parks were built, allowing for meaningful conclusions to be drawn. These conclusions suggest that solar parks generally have a positive effect on biodiversity and identify structures that can contribute to increasing biodiversity, particularly with regard to the spacing between the module rows and maintaining these spacings.

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• Solar parks – benefits for biodiversity

EU: Waste incineration is renewable energy – Image: @shutterstock | DeawS – atabik yusuf djufni

A group of NGOs and companies from the recycling, forestry and chemical industries are demanding that the burning of non-recyclable waste for energy generation no longer be considered renewable energy.

Non-renewable energy can only be used once. It is a limited resource and not available indefinitely. This includes nuclear power. Nuclear power plants require enriched uranium, which must first be produced industrially. Depleted uranium is produced as a waste product. What happens to this waste, as well as to the fission products generated during nuclear fission—that is, highly toxic radioactive waste—is another matter. In contrast, fossil fuels cause environmental pollution and global warming through the release of greenhouse gases.

Up to this point, everything is logically comprehensible: Renewable energy is available in unlimited quantities and does not harm the environment.

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• EU: Waste incineration is renewable energy

In Germany, 47% of the electricity mix comes from renewable sources – @shutterstock | Christos Georghiou

According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, 47 percent of the electricity generated in Germany this year comes from renewable sources. Up to and including mid-July, wind and solar power plants in Germany produced almost 100 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. By comparison, lignite and hard coal produced 84 TWh. According to a report in the Handelsblatt newspaper, the share of coal-fired power plants in German electricity generation fell surprisingly sharply in the first half of the year. "Wind, solar, and even gas-fired power plants have largely displaced hard coal power plants from the market, but increasingly also lignite-fired power plants."

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• In Germany, 47% of the electricity mix is ​​renewable