Ground-breaking ceremony at Aschheim Solar Park

After its connection to the power grid in August, the photovoltaic system located in Munich East has the capacity to supply 300 households with electricity.



Dornach near Munich. In cooperation with its partner GE Energy, Gehrlicher Solar AG is building a solar park in the municipality of Aschheim along the A 99. Helmut Englmann, mayor of Aschheim, together with representatives from Gehrlicher Solar AG and BENG eG München, a citizen power cooperative, were on hand for the ground-breaking ceremony on June 29, 2011.



The system with a peak power capacity of 1.1 megawatt is intended to produce about 1.2 million kilowatt hours of solar power annually, an amount sufficient to cover the needs of around 300 three-person households. CO2 savings are expected to amount to approximately 600 tons annually. The solar park’s total area includes around 6.6 hectare, 2.3 of which will be covered by 7,728 solar modules manufactured by GE Energy. After the system is connected to the power grid in August 2011, two SMA inverters will transform the direct current produced into alternating current suitable for the grid.



Gehrlicher Solar AG is responsible for engineering and constructing the solar park and will also take over its technical operation subsequent to grid connection. Dr. Tim P. Jungblut, Commercial Director, and Gerald Kumerle, Technical Director, both with the Business Unit Ground Mounted Systems, offered the following remarks about the project: “This is the first of several solar parks we planned in cooperation with our partner GE Energy. We are particularly delighted to have obtained maximum citizen participation through our partnership with the citizen power cooperative BENG eG. From the beginning, we have been very impressed by the long-term commitment to renewable energies on the part of the citizens.”



The Bürgerenergiegenossenschaft München (BENG eG) was established on 4.1.2011 by 18 individuals, who, starting in 2002, have been building and operating 40 solar systems (as companies under civil law) within the county and city of Munich. Burkhard Ulle with BENG’s Board of Directors explains: “We are very pleased at the opportunity to realize our largest project so far with the Aschheim Solar Park. Our cooperation with Gehrlicher Solar turned out to be an outstanding experience. It is possible that additional projects might follow soon.”