Thursday, March 29th, 2012 Conergy was joined by the Mayor of Grimmen and the private investor from Northern Germany for the opening of the 8 megawatt solar power plant in Grimmen near Stralsund. With a symbolic push of the red button, one of the largest solar parks in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was officially connected to the grid, underlining a strong commitment to the German solar industry: all components are 100 % from Conergy’s domestic manufacturing facilities.
The Minister for Economic Affairs Harry Glawe embraces the investment in renewable energies: “The energy transition is already well underway in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In this region, the sun is already supplying around 43,000 households with environmentally friendly power. One advantage of photovoltaics: solar power is produced directly where it can be consumed. There is no need to transport it over great distances in the grid.”
For Conergy and private investor Stephan Johannsen from Northern Germany, the new solar plant in Grimmen represents another chapter in a special solar partnership; it is already their third joint solar park. Johannsen has been driving his personal energy transition consistently forward for a number of years. With his investments in the two largest solar parks in Northern Germany at Tarp and Hörup as well as the large Grimmen power plant now, the green investor has gone for clean energy generation, as he has also done with his 10 Conergy rooftop plants with a total capacity of around 2 megawatts.
“We have a great responsibility towards our children. Obtaining emission-free energy from regenerative sources is an important step in ensuring that they will be able to live in an intact environment,” said Stephan Johannsen. “For me, environmental and climate protection starts directly at my front door. That is also the reason why we will expand our solar involvement from the region and for the region further.” With respect to the components he also goes for quality “made in Germany”, based on past experience. In collaboration with system supplier Conergy he has already realised a total of 20 megawatts of solar capacity – possibly to be continued.
“Solar energy has a great deal of potential. To supply the whole of Germany with solar power would require approx. 5,000 square kilometres. The area provided by roofs in the republic alone amounts to 2,800 square kilometres,” said Stefan Balbierz, Conergy’s Managing Director in Germany. “Germany’s solar future therefore lies on the roof – and Conergy is very well positioned in this respect. We have been offering complete rooftop systems from a single source for years.”
With their numerous rooftop plants, the Johannsens have already realised the move onto the roof as well as their personal energy transition. And their eco portfolio has now been expanded further with the large solar plant in Grimmen. In addition to providing all the components installed at the park, Conergy also acted as general contractor. The project development work was carried out by Conergy partner EBB Renewable Energy GmbH from Flensburg.
