SolarEdge Powers Community Energy Transition in Donau-Ries, Bavaria

Located in Donau-Ries, Bavaria, the municipality of Buchdorf and 263 of its 2,000 citizens have joined forces in a mission to accelerate the community’s transition to clean energy and become more energy independent.

In a bid to reduce the community’s reliance on grid electricity and cut energy costs, the Municipality has funded three rooftop solar systems installed on the local Kindergarten and day nursery buildings, as well as the local fire station. Powered by SolarEdge Inverters and Power Optimizers, the three solar systems are now powering up to 90% of each building’s energy needs. This has resulted in a reduction in grid consumption of more than 12,000 kWh in just 6 months, equating to €5,000 in total energy bill savings. To maximize self-consumption, the Municipality has also installed battery storage to power systems at night with free solar energy, such a heat-pumps and refrigeration devices.

With rooftop space still available across two of the three buildings, the remaining space was leased to the Neue Energie Buchdorf eG – a new ‘energy cooperative’ formed of 263 local citizens looking to expand the deployment of clean energy in the community. Installed alongside the three municipality-funded systems, the cooperative invested in two further solar systems – with all energy produced fed into the grid and sold to the local grid operator. Revenues generated will go towards the cooperative’s ambitious plan to finance the planning and projection of a wind turbine to power to produce even more clean energy in the community. Cooperative members are also expected to receive some financial returns on their investment, depending on the annual result of the cooperative, making it a potentially lucrative investment project for the participating citizens of Buchdorf.

Advanced solar technology used to help ensure public safety
As with any solar system installed on public buildings, particularly schools housing children, the technology used had to meet stringent safety standards. As a result, the Municipality of Buchdorf requested SolarEdge’s DC-optimized solar inverter having already been used in PV systems across other Municipalities in Munich for its advanced fire safety capabilities. SolarEdge Power Optimizers – small devices attached to the under side of each pair of solar panels – feature technology that is designed to detect temperature increases at the connector level in order to help prevent potential electric arcs from occurring. The innovative SafeDCTMfeature is also designed to reduce the solar system’s voltage to a touch-safe 1 V within seconds, so firefighters or first responders can work safely during daylight.

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