Belgians build world's most powerful solar roof
In Venlo, Netherlands, the world's most powerful solar park on a single roof is gradually taking shape. The producer of this specimen of technical ingenuity is an alliance between the logistical real estate group Heylen Warehouses from Herentals and AG Real Estate, the real estate arm of the Belgian insurance company AG Insurance.
The large-scale green energy project commenced at the start of this year. All told, a total of 48,040 solar panels covering a surface area of 12.6 hectares, or about 20 football fields, will be providing 18 MWp of power on the roof of the Venlo E-Commerce Logistic Campus from June 2020, for both the building itself and other users. This is enough to provide electricity for 4,500 households for a year, while reducing CO₂ emissions by 12,000 tons.
Besides the two above-mentioned partners, there are a further three from Belgium in the project: the banking and insurance company Belfius, which is providing financing of 15.3 million euros, the photovoltaic systems supplier IZEN from Lille, and the engineering agency Encon from Bilzen for technical assistance.