Thuringia Celebrates Its Largest Solar Park in Ronneburg

- Matthias Machnig, Thuringia\'s Minister for Trade and Industry, inaugurates Solar power plant on former uranium ore mine
- juwi project produces clean energy for 5,600 households

Ronneburg/Wörrstadt - Past and future of our energy supply are situated closely together in the East German town of Ronneburg. Here, toxic uranium ore destined for the former Soviet Union’s nuclear industry was exploited until 1990 by the German mining company Wismut. Today, on the same site, Thuringia’s largest photovoltaic power plant produces clean electricity for about 5,600 households. Matthias Machnig, Thuringia’s Minister for Trade and Industry, officially inaugurated the plant today.

‘Fortunately, the nuclear age is a thing of the past. The future belongs to renewable energies. That is why the Free State of Thuringia pushes the energy transition with projects like the one in Ronneburg. The decentralized expansion of renewable energies offers regions great economic potential und increases the local value chain’, stated Thuringia’s Minister for Trade and Industry in his welcome address.

Among the numerous guests of honor were political and business representatives. Herbert Muders, juwi Solar managing director, emphasized the necessity of PV free-field installations for the energy transition. ‘Solar electricity is an essential element of a power supply based on renewable energies. The urgently needed energy transition based on 100 percent renewable energies cannot be achieved without an increasing number of large PV free-field installations. Solar power significantly and permanently lowers the price of electricity at the stock exchange by replacing expansive conventional power plants and by producing electricity in peak hours. Prospectively, PV will provide low-priced clean electricity’.

Dr. Peter Asmuth, CEO of German utility STAWAG, emphasized the economic chances of a decentralized renewable energy supply: ‘Public utilities are the drivers of the energy transition. A decentralized energy production is a great chance for a future-oriented power industry and for local value creation. We have set up an ambitious program for the further expansion of renewable energies worth 150 million euros per year. We would like to invest this amount annually, together with our partners’.

Additional welcome notes were held by Krimhild Leutloff, Ronneburg’ s mayor, and Dr. Stefan Mann, managing director of Wismuth GmbH. Martina Schweinsburg, county commissioner, also sent her regards.

Thuringia’s largest PV plant has an installed capacity of almost 20 megawatts. On 40 hectares of a former uranium ore mine, over 83,000 solar modules produce more than 19 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity per year, providing enough electricity for a small town like Ronneburg. In addition, 13,600 tons of the harmful climate gas carbon dioxide are avoided every year. The produced electricity will be fed into the local grid. The PV plant is operated by STAWAG Energie GmbH, a public utility.

Download press photo:
https://www.iwrpressedienst.de/juwi/04102012/Bild1.jpg
Caption:
Thuringia’s largest solar park officially inaugurated: Over 83,000 PV modules produce more than 19 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually.


About the juwi group
juwi is one of the world’s leading specialists for renewable energies with a strong regional presence and offers project development as well as products for the energy turnaround. Our goal: 100 percent renewable energies. Our impetus: Work together to implement renewable energies economically and reliably with passion. From site selection to planning, construction and financing up to management – juwi is the competent partner for the energy transition with a regional focus.
juwi was founded in 1996 by Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung in Rhineland-Palatinate. Today, the company employs more than 1,800 people in 15 countries and had an annual turnover of approx. a billion euros in 2011. Company activities include mainly solar, wind and bio energy, but also hydropower and geothermal energy as well as sustainable construction. The company’s own research division (juwi Research & Development) develops solutions and components to make power from renewable energies even more reasonably priced. E-mobility and storage technologies (e.g. juwi Home Power, the battery storage system for solar power plants) complete the portfolio.
Up to date, juwi has constructed around 620 wind turbines with an output of around 1,200 megawatts; in the solar sector more than 1,500 solar power plants with a total output of around 1,200 megawatts. Combined, these plants generate approx. 4.5 billion kilowatt hours of green energy per year; that corresponds to the annual power consumption of approx. 1.3 billion German households. In the bio energy sector, juwi has realized numerous wood pellet production plants, biomass and heat power plants, biogas plants and heating networks with contracting solutions. juwi has initiated an investment of more than five billion euro in the last 16 years for the realization of these projects.
juwi is one of Germany’s best and most sought-after employers. In 2012, the company was ranked among the Top 20 (in the category 501 to 2,000 employees) in the renowned competition organized by the “Great Place to Work Institute“. The juwi group has offices in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria, Great Britain, India, Singapore, South Africa, Chile, the USA and Costa Rica. In Germany, juwi has subsidiaries and regional offices in eleven German states.


About STAWAG:
STAWAG, the public utility in Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia, is known as a pioneer in innovation and in the usage of renewable energies. The company realized the first solarpaneled building façade already in 1991. In 1995, Aachen introduced a cost-covering feed-in tariff for solar power which served as a foundation for the German Renewable Energy Law. In 2006, STAWAG was the first company that produced and fed into the grid bionatural gas. In 2013, the public utility will produce more than 300 million kilowatt-hours of green power and plans to increase this number to around 600 million kilowatt-hours by 2020. Therefore, the company founded STAWAG Energie GmbH in 2003, a subsidiary with 35 employees dealing exclusively with the planning, design, construction and operation of renewable energy plants.
Furthermore, the public utility is active in numerous innovation and research projects in areas such as e-mobility, smart meters and grids as well as storage projects. STAWAG campaigns for public utilities and is, for example, founding member of Trianel, a cooperation of utilities with more than 50 national and international members. STAWAG employs more than 600 people and had a revenue of more than 430 million euros in 2011.


Ronneburg/Wörrstadt, October 4, 2012


Publication and Reprint free of charge; please send a voucher copy to
the juwi Holding AG and STAWAG.


Attention editorial offices: For further questions please contact

juwi Holding AG
Mr. Felix Wächter, Press Department
Energie-Allee 1
55286 Wörrstadt
Tel: + 49 (0)6732.9657-1244
Fax: + 49 (0)6732.9657-7001
Mobil: + 49 (0)152.09 33 18 78
Mail: waechter@juwi.de
Internet: http://www.juwi.com

STAWAG
Eva Wußing, Press Department
Tel. +49. (0)241 181-4130
Mobil +49. (0)151 12645552
Mail: eva.wussing@stawag.de
Internet: http://www.stawag.de

Sprache:

Online-Pressemappe - alle Pressemitteilungen der juwi Holding AG, STAWAG | RSS-Feed abonnieren

---

Pressebilder nur für die redaktionelle Verwendung
Hinweis: Für den Inhalt der Pressemitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber der Meldung »juwi Holding AG, STAWAG« verantwortlich.