Three years ago, Wolfratshausen created a modern, large daycare center with the house for children on Ludwig-Thoma-Straße: The 4.9 million euro building, which is operated by Kinderland Weyarn, has space for 125 kindergarten and daycare children . The rooms are bright and large, those on the upper floor have a gallery where the children can play. What is not there, however, are solar cells on the roof.
This rankles the Greens in the city council, which is why they made an application at the most recent building committee meeting: Please have the roof of the day-care center checked for its suitability for a photovoltaic system. The inexpensive solar power can be used to run the house, thereby amortizing the investment. The test should be carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, explained the Green City Councillors, Hans Schmidt and Rudi Seibt. They had already determined the cost of 1800 euros.
That sounds reasonable. Finally, the city council declared a climate emergency, and fitting the roofs of municipal buildings with solar systems is a tough process in Wolfratshausen, but at least it is a declared goal of the other parliamentary groups. However, the proposal raised eyebrows among their city councillors. Not because they are against solar power, but because there is already a study on the roof of the day care center. And she advises against a PV system there. “Moisture accumulation in the roof construction cannot be ruled out with additional shading, even if a moisture-adaptive membrane is installed on the room side,” says the analysis, from which Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner had already quoted in March at the request of the Greens. In the most recent meeting, he kindly translated this into his own, understandable words: According to a study, condensation can form with a PV system, which can lead to mold on the roof.
But the Greens doubt that. They spoke to several experts who couldn’t believe it, said Seibt and Schmidt, who are both engineers themselves. And asked whether the report should be taken seriously. He assumes so, said Thomas Little from the city administration. The commissioned office came to its conclusion based on a simulation, which it created with special software from the Fraunhofer Institute.
He was not able to eliminate the doubts of the Greens. However, they withdrew their application after a short debate – at least for the time being. At the suggestion of the Second Mayor Günther Eibl (CSU), they should now get the entire present feasibility study, which they can study in detail. If there are still doubts, the application can be put back on the table.
All city council members find it quite annoying that the new daycare center remains solar cell-free. He looked at the roof again, said BVW spokesman and master carpenter Josef Praller. “That’s very special.” Engineer Schmidt was then unable to spark any more discussion when he asked why it hadn’t been built in a PV-compatible manner. After all, the building committee approved the architect’s plans at the time.