Citizens’ commitment to local renewable energy deployment
The energy initiative “GSW-Stadtwerke Straubing Bürgerenergie II GmbH & Co.KG” is based on a partnership between GSW, the local utility Stadtwerke Straubing, the city of Straubing and the municipality of Atting. The citizens of these regions have covered the complete investment. In addition to the PV Park, the local energy project is complemented by a wind power park comprised of five 3.1 MW wind turbines located in Bösel, Lower-Saxony. Through the Straubing Bürgerenergie II project, an estimated 47 million kWh of green electricity will be generated annually.

“As was also the case for our first energy initiative in Straubing, local interest for the project was very high. The citizens’ shares were sold out within a few days,” said Lucia Gold, General Manager of GSW Gold SolarWind Management GmbH. “With private citizens investing their savings, delivering the expected return is our highest priority. After thorough evaluation, we chose Hanwha Solar modules for our project in Straubing. We are confident that these high-quality modules will deliver clean energy for years to come.”

The Lerchenhaid II PV park is distributed over two areas on both sides of the railway tracks close to Lerchenhaid, with ICE high speed trains rushing by. Following a seven-week construction phase, the park was connected to the Stadtwerke Straubing grid at the end of April 2013. The park’s PV capacity totals 12.4 MWp, of which Hanwha SolarOne supplied 8.2 MWp. GSW will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the park.

In September, GSW finalized a further 2 MWp solar park open to citizens’ investment located in Bavarian Vatersdorf. The PV modules were supplied by Hanwha SolarOne.