Winterhalter invests in photovoltaics
Yet another Winterhalter investment in a green and sustainable future. The manufacturer of warewashing technology from Meckenbeuren has built a photovoltaic system on the company car park, expanding on-site electricity production to meet 40 percent of its own requirements.
Winterhalter has been investing in green technologies at its Meckenbeuren location for many years. Eight charging stations for electric vehicles were put into operation just recently. The new build from 2013 and the logistics centre – which was completed in 2019 – both have roof-mounted PV systems and harness geothermal energy. This concept involves tapping into the earth’s energy to heat the buildings in winter. The process is reversed in summer, which means extracting heat from the buildings and returning it to the soil, thereby regulating the buildings’ temperature. “PV and geothermal energy work extremely well together and enable us to utilise the full raft of energy generation options”, explains Bernhard Graeff, who is a member of the Executive Board and responsible for construction projects at Winterhalter.
Construction work on the latest project got underway in the middle of February: a roof will be built with a photovoltaic system covering the 4,000 square metres and 194 parking spaces on Winterhalterstrasse. Total investment: €2 million, including a state grant of €200,000 to reduce the costs slightly. PV systems over car parks are significantly more expensive than standard roof-mounted systems. This is largely because they need a substructure made of steel and wood, along with more expensive panels – known as overhead modules – which must be strong enough to carry the weight of snow. It is also necessary to run the cabling beneath the road to connect the system to the company complex.
Re.: B. Graeff, Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung Winterhalter Gastronom GmbH
At present, PV systems currently cover around 8,000 square metres of roof space on the company premises. Their peak yield is approx. 550 kilowatt hours. Winterhalter has been able to utilise 90 percent of the energy generated to date – 560 thousand kilowatt hours in 2022 – to power its own facilities. Surplus power is fed into the electricity grid, especially at weekends. The new car park roof will deliver an additional peak yield of roughly 500 kilowatt hours. Once complete, around a quarter of the entire company premises will be covered with PV systems. Graeff anticipates that the new system will be able to cover around 40 percent of the company’s own electricity consumption.
Asked about the principal reasons for the investment, Jürgen Winterhalter, Managing Director of Winterhalter Gastronom GmbH, mentions his responsibility towards society and the environment in running a family business as well as security of supply: “We want to maximise the sustainability of our production. What is more, we have learned from recent years that it makes sense to become as independent as possible from external energy providers. We could invest our money more economically. Nevertheless, all future new builds will be equipped with geothermal and PV systems. Our objective is to become largely carbon-neutral.” The new roofing system brings particular benefits for the employees as well. The roof protects them from the elements in winter and shields them from the sun in summer.