German energy firm Badenova, the Freiburg city government, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems successfully installed the first solar-covered cycling path in Germany on April 27, 2023.
Mayor Martin Horn praised the pilot project in his welcome remarks.
“Freiburg needs such creative solutions so that we can achieve the climate goals.”
Mayor Martin Horn
Likewise, Badenova Managing Director Klaus Preiser expressed his pleasure with the project’s inauguration.
“Together with the city of Freiburg and Fraunhofer ISE, we have created a model. Now we have to develop further areas in urban space, be it on roof areas, on traffic areas or open spaces. Our goal: to increase our power generation from renewable energies by a factor of 10 together with wind power.”
Badenova Managing Director Klaus Preiser
About the pilot project
The press release noted that the innovative infrastructure is located at the Freiburg Exhibition Center, close to the Freiburg FC football stadium. The path measures 300 meters long (984-foot-long), comprising up to 900 translucent solar modules from German panel maker Solarwatt.
The installed solar roof has an annual capacity of 280 MWh, which the Fraunhofer Institute’s labs will predominantly use. Furthermore, Badenova will soon link the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE with the sun cycle path.
Badenova board member Heinz-Werner Hölscher outlined the benefits of these kinds of projects.
“We have to rethink photovoltaics so that we can integrate further projects of this kind into the cityscape. This pilot project shows how urban spaces can be used twice: cyclists can safely pass the path and electricity is generated at the same time.”
Badenova board member Heinz-Werner Hölscher
Fraunhofer Institute’s PV power plants team head, Dr. Karolina Baltins, elaborated on the project development process.
“We not only use the solar power of the cycle path canopy, but we are using the knowledge gathered from the pilot project and incorporating it into our research in order to answer the diverse questions for PV in urban areas.”
Dr. Karolina Baltins, Fraunhofer Institute’s PV power plants team head
See Also:
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Indeed, this pilot project is beneficial as it shields riders from the climate while they pedal without producing any emissions, and the shelter also generates sustainable energy.
