Two operators presented their solar park projects to the Schwabhauser local council. This would exceed the municipality's self-imposed upper limit for open-space photovoltaics.
Schwabhausen – Two different operators are independently planning to build large solar parks in the Schwabhausen municipality. While Greenovative GmbH has its sights set on an area of around 15 hectares south of Lindach, the RWE Renewables Deutschland GmbH project is about three areas: north of Kreuzholzhausen, near Machtenstein and also an area near Lindach - all in all, it's about around 35 hectares.
Greenovative is planning Lindach solar park
“They say it is the last decade with the chance to avert harm to humanity,” said Bernd Fuchs. The managing director of the Nuremberg-based company Greenovative was allowed to promote an open-field photovoltaic system southwest of Lindach to the local council together with project manager Franziska Landshammer. According to Fuchs, the medium-sized company has been on the market for eleven years and has already successfully implemented 700 projects. At the Lindach solar park, a module area measuring 13.6 hectares would be planned, which would generate an annual electricity yield of 20 megawatt hours. This would correspond to supplying 5,780 households with electricity.
The RWE project has a different dimension. Joachim Mack emphasized that electricity has been generated for 125 years and the first solar modules were developed in 1976. Thanks to modern technology, the project manager was connected to the Schwabhauser town hall via Webex from a hotel in Italy.
Renewables has three areas in mind
The RWE subsidiary Renewables Deutschland GmbH is planning on a larger scale, as the local councilors learned. RWE has calculated that the three areas presented would correspond to 33.6 hectares or 1.1 percent of the total community area. The three RWE solar parks would produce 36.3 million kilowatt hours every year. Or, to put it another way, be able to supply 10,700 households.
Both operators have already reached an agreement with the property owners and have taken care of the grid connection. Greenovative has identified “several substations in the area” that would be suitable for this, while the solar power from the three RWE areas is to be fed in via a line to Odelzhausen.
Project manager Mack then explained the size of the requested area against this background: “We need this area because of its economic viability; The next entry point is relatively far away.”
Minimum size due to economy
When asked by Markus Böhm (UBV) how much space was at least necessary from RWE's perspective in order to remain economically viable, Mack replied: "25 hectares". When asked about the same question, Bernd Fuchs from Greenovative previously spoke of ten hectares.
Maximum 1.5 percent of the municipal area
Even if there was no discussion let alone a resolution, the upper limit for solar parks chosen by the local council itself suggests that the total of almost 50 hectares of solar areas requested may be too much. The local council has set the upper limit for solar parks at 1.5 percent of the municipal area, which corresponds to 46 hectares. Since there is already a system with around five hectares near Arnbach and the municipality is planning another PV system on the site of the former sewage treatment plant east of the main town of Schwabhausen, which will be around 1.3 hectares in size, only 40 hectares remain.
Only Markus Arnold (CSU) made it generally clear that “I am not a fan of solar parks”. He believed that photovoltaics should be installed on highways or on house roofs. Fuchs contradicted: One should “not be too picky” if the energy transition is to succeed. And so PV systems on roofs are just as important as solar parks or wind turbines, which produce reliable electricity even in the cold season.
Mayor Wolfgang Hörl's closing words went in the same direction: “I repeat myself, but the energy transition will be visible!”