Stadtwerke Unterschleißheim wants to invest up to one million euros in photovoltaic systems on the roofs of municipal buildings. Among other things, there should be solar modules on the town hall, on the city library and on the savings bank; also on the Ganghofer School, several day-care centers and also on the new building of the Bavarian Red Cross. But that should only be the beginning. All municipal properties are to be examined for their potential for solar power production. The public utilities also have another open-space photovoltaic system in mind in addition to the one in Riedmoos. But the considerations are still in their infancy.
Calculations for the first seven buildings have already been made following the decision that the public utility company should spend a lot of money this year on a solar power offensive. The public utilities have investigated how large the systems could be and how much electricity could be produced. And they have already made profitability calculations. On this basis, plant manager Reinhard Reiter outlined on Wednesday in the works committee of the city council how to proceed. He recommended choosing a middle ground and keeping an eye on profitability as well as the climate protection effect. In this way, 608,000 kilowatt hours of electricity could be produced CO₂-free on the seven roofs per year. That would be enough to supply 152 four-person households.
The works committee showed that a whole series of things had to be carefully weighed up during planning. Because the largest system brings the greatest yield for the climate, but by no means for the operator. The feed-in tariff guaranteed according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has developed more and more in the direction that it is worthwhile to operate systems for personal use, but by no means to feed electricity into the grid. If you want to operate profitably, the size of the system depends on the electricity consumption of the building. With a system with a peak output of 120 kilowatts on the town hall, library and savings bank, 97 percent of the solar power could be used directly. A top value.
On the other hand, the municipal utilities only achieve a calculated self-consumption rate of ten percent for solar systems on the Arche children’s home, at the Nordschloss children’s home and in the municipal utility’s warehouse. Plant manager Reiter criticized the control effect of the EEG and said “that is not in the spirit of the energy transition”. He described how smaller systems, for example on the roofs of children’s homes, could be more profitable. Then the investments would be amortized after 13 years. But with a view to the growing need for green electricity, he advised doing everything that would bring the costs back in 20 years.
Some members of the works committee were not quite prepared for such an in-depth discussion. The profitability calculation had only been announced for the next meeting. However, the through ball for the debate was included. Suggestions were made as to how self-consumption could be increased. Jürgen Radtke (Greens) brought up battery storage and asked whether neighboring buildings could also be connected to the solar modules in order to increase their own consumption. Manfred Riederle (FDP) said that the demand for electricity would increase significantly and advised placing charging stations on buildings with solar modules. Birte Bode (SPD) also sees a task for the public utility company in offering wall boxes in garages. Brigitte Huber (Greens) was pleased that the public utility company had presented concrete figures and concepts so quickly on the initiative of the Greens. “It is definitely a contribution to the energy transition.”
According to Reiter, the goal is to make initial decisions in the first half of the year in order to be able to issue tenders quickly. Mayor Christoph Böck (SPD) is striving to convene a special session. Reiter also expressed confidence that the plans for another ground-mounted photovoltaic system might come to fruition by 2024. According to initial considerations, one could arise on the north-eastern shore of Lake Unterschleißheim. However, there are still a few hurdles to overcome. The area is in a conservation area. Relocating the substation from Furtweg there has already been discussed and is said to have priority. Reiter said that extensive nature conservation studies would first have to be carried out, as well as a change process for the land use and development plan. In addition, areas along the highway for solar modules are under discussion.