Supported by customers of the green electricity offer heidelberg GREEN, Stadtwerke Heidelberg installed twelve new photovoltaic systems in 2019: nine on single-family homes and one each on a KiTa, a shooting range and the Chapel, a former military church in Mark Twain Village.

The heidelberg GREEN product has been awarded the Green Electricity Label. It enables electricity customers of Stadtwerke Heidelberg to actively participate in the energy turnaround in Heidelberg and the region, because the revenue from the product proportionately finances the construction of facilities for generating electricity from renewable energies. The Green Electricity Label supports the nature-friendly expansion of renewable energies by obliging providers of certified green electricity products to invest a fixed amount per kilowatt hour consumed in energy transition projects. In total, more than 1,400 energy transition projects have already been realized and co-financed in this way. These can include wind farms, tenant electricity projects or electric mobility concepts. But they also include programs for private customers to promote an ecological energy supply in their own homes.

"Customers who purchase our green electricity are committed to the expansion of renewable energies in our region," emphasizes Felix Gudat, Head of Renewable Energies at Stadtwerke Heidelberg. In this way, they are making an important contribution to climate protection."

With the twelve new ones last year, 143 photovoltaic systems have already been built in Heidelberg and the region with these funds since 2001. Annually, they generate a total of just under 5 GWh of electricity, which is equivalent to the demand of around 2,000 households. Overall, this reduces CO2 emissions by just under 2,870 tons per year. The twelve new photovoltaic systems have a combined output of around 166.44 kWp and produce 154,230 kWh of electricity annually - enough for the equivalent of 60 households. They reduce CO2 emissions by around 73 tons per year.

Old military band benefits from new PV system

One of the new photovoltaic systems was built on a former military chapel in Mark Twain Village. Mark Twain Village, a former housing estate of the US Army in Heidelberg's southern city, is currently being modernized as a residential area. The system was integrated directly into the roof and thus also serves as a roof covering. With 128 photovoltaic modules of 300 watts each on 210 m2 of roof surface, the new system has an output of 38.4 KWp and will thus produce around 36,000 KWh of solar power annually. Its operation will reduce CO2 emissions by 17.6 tons per year.