Energy
Bunschoten uses solar power to reduce its CO2 emissions
22. November 2019
Bunschoten uses solar power to reduce its CO2 emissions
3 minutes spent reading
Sustainability
Volkmar Held
As a freelance writer, Volkmar Held reports for voestalpine on topics that move people. The content of his stories ranges from archaeometallurgy to future technologies.
Dutch company voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten is conserving resources and reducing its CO2 emissions. Soon thousands of square meters of photovoltaic (PV) panels will cover the roof of the building at the site, meeting almost a third of the company’s electricity requirements. This will be achieved using the Fast Slide System PV technology produced by sister company voestalpine Sadef.
PV installations are the ideal, sustainable energy solution for voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten. To meet its electricity requirements while reducing its CO2 emissions, the company is turning to the largest supplier of energy—the sun.
There’s a large team behind the PV project in Bunschoten (from left): Giel van Driel (Manager BAM, voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten), Michael Galle (Design Engineer, voestalpine Sadef), Aleksejs Orlovs (Installation Contractor, ER Mounting), Maarten de Jonge (Area Sales Manager Solar, voestalpine Sadef), Serge Zupancic (Installation Contractor, XPERAL), Fränk Zwaans (COO/Operations Director, voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten), Oleksandr Stuparnyk (Installation Contractor, ER Mounting), Richard Weemen (Project Manager, Rooftop Energy)
CO2-free electricity from the rooftops
The voestalpine site in the Netherlands has joined other Group companies in looking for ways to source CO2-neutral electricity. That’s why, over the next 4 to 6 months, the entire roof at the site will be transformed into a photovoltaic power plant.
"The PV installation allows us to cover almost a third of our annual power consumption, saving around 5,700 tons of CO2. voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten is setting a true sustainability benchmark with this project."
After all, the annual 5,700 tons of CO2 savings corresponds to the quantity of CO2 emitted by a conventional car driving a distance of 47.5 million kilometers. These savings are also passed on: when the site doesn’t need all the power it generates on its roof—for example, on Sundays or holidays—then the excess green electricity is fed into the public grid.
Key figures for the PV installation:
35,000 solar panels
59,500 m² panel surface area (more than 8 football pitches)
10 million kWh peak annual output
2,950 times the annual consumption of a Dutch household
5,700 tons of CO2 can be saved
15 year term for the cooperation agreement with project partner Rooftop Energy.
Space for CO2-reduced energy solutions: the rooftops at voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten
Applying voestalpine experience
An important contributor to the PV project is voestalpine Sadef: based in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, this sister company in the Metal Forming Division is supplying the special sections for the rooftop construction. In Bunschoten its Fast Slide System for PV installations covers an area greater than eight football pitches (five times bigger than the main square in Linz).
"We adapted and optimized the sections used in the Fast Slide System for this project. Around 40 km of these sections were manufactured and installed parallel to the roof which is visually very appealing. Furthermore, they require fewer roof fixings, so that installation is three times faster compared to conventional systems. Together with Rooftop Energy, we are once again demonstrating our efficiency here in Bunschoten."
Cost-neutral investment in the future
The project solution chosen offers “stress-free solar power” for the voestalpine site in Bunschoten. This is the motto of local partner, Rooftop Energy, and refers to the long-term system of public subsidies. This allows the cost-neutral installation of PV systems and decades of secure, CO2-free power supplies.
Signing up for a new chapter in emissions reductions (from left): Fränk Zwaans, voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten; Richard Weemen, Rooftop Energy; Giel van Driel, voestalpine Automotive Components Bunschoten
Volkmar Held