The non-profit association Solar Powers e.V. was founded in 2014 to equip the roofs of the TU Berlin with photovoltaic systems and thus to use the previously unused potential of the roof surfaces to generate electricity. Now the association has been awarded the German Solar Prize 2018 of EUROSOLAR e.V. in the category "Local and regional associations/communities".
EUROSOLAR thus honors the outstanding commitment of the students and the signal effect for the utilization potential of solar power on roofs of educational institutions, which emanates from the project. The award was presented to those responsible at a ceremony in Bonn's Münster-Carré on 18.9.18.
First project of the non-profit association was the installation of a PV system on the roof of the TU Central Library in Berlin-Charlottenburg. On an area of 500 square meters, 107 PV modules were installed in fall 2016 in cooperation with the collective enterprise KanTe. Both the construction and the operation of the system, which was ceremonially opened at the beginning of April 2017, are carried out by the student initiative.
The concept not only convinced those responsible at the TU, but also NATURSTROM AG, which subsidized the project with 10,000 euros. The money came from the certification of the naturstrom product with the Green Electricity Label. The Green Electricity label guarantees that for every kilowatt hour consumed, a fixed amount is invested by the energy provider in nature-friendly energy transition projects.
The entire system has an output of 30 kilowatt-peak - this can supply eleven two-person households with solar power per year. All the electricity generated by the PV system is purchased by the TU Berlin. The proceeds go to non-profit projects in the fields of environmental technology, renewable energies and sustainable business.
The German Solar Prize 2018 is already the second prize that Solar Powers has been able to secure: in 2016, the association already won the first Student Environmental Award (STUPS) of the German Environmental Foundation.
