Berlin tenant power project with 500 kWp

Neues Berlin and Berliner Stadtwerke expand cooperation

Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft Neues Berlin and Berliner Stadtwerke have agreed on another joint tenant power project. Six solar power systems with an output of around 500 kilowatts are being built in the Mühlengrund housing estate in Hohenschönhausen. Tenants of more than 1,100 apartments will soon be able to benefit from green electricity from their own roofs.

The solar plants, which together cover 4,000 m², are being erected on a total of 23 six-storey buildings between Falkenberger Chaussee, Rüdickenstraße and Am Breiten Luch, near the Hohenschönhausen S-Bahn station. They will enable around 420,000 kilowatt hours of green electricity to be harvested per year and around 235 tonnes of the greenhouse gas CO₂ save.

"We are very pleased that Neues Berlin has already started the third project with us, which is also quite large by Berlin standards," says Dr. Kerstin Busch, Managing Director of Berliner Stadtwerke, who points out that there is further potential for expansion in the Mühlengrund residential complex. "Although we are calling for improvements in the current EEG draft - for example, with regard to the obligation to tender or the supply of tenant electricity to neighbouring buildings - we see that tenant electricity can currently still succeed under certain conditions and in close communication with the residents and the cooperative, even under difficult conditions."

"Together with Berliner Stadtwerke GmbH, we have implemented environmentally friendly supply projects based on renewable energies on our roofs in a very short time and without much effort. We are looking forward to further projects like the one in Mühlengrund to give even more tenants the opportunity to benefit from tenant electricity. During the cooperation, it quickly became apparent that both sides are pursuing the goal of making an ecological and social contribution to our city with the greatest interest," says Thomas Fleck, member of the board at Neues Berlin.

In 2019, Berliner Stadtwerke and the housing cooperative Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft Neues Berlin have already successfully implemented a tenant electricity project in the residential complex Malchow floodplain in Hohenschönhausen. Since then, around 640 households have been able to obtain cheap green electricity from their own roofs. To this end, a total of five solar power systems with a total capacity of 224 kilowatts were installed on four buildings belonging to the cooperative. This year, Berliner Stadtwerke added an existing solar power system on the Neues Berlin building Degnerbogen converted to an intelligent tenant power system - a smart model for owners of PV systems that will fall out of the EEG subsidy in the future.

For Berliner Stadtwerke, the implementation of local green electricity projects is an important milestone in enabling a climate-friendly and affordable supply for all residents. To this end, solar power systems are being installed in residential areas and on public buildings, among other things, in order to generate clean electricity where it can be consumed. In addition to this local system expansion, Berliner Stadtwerke offers a range of solar energy services with its berlinStrom tariff municipal green electricity throughout the city. Today, Berlin's only public energy supplier counts more than 19,000 green electricity households among its environmentally conscious customer base.

Source: PM of Stadtwerke Berlin from 12.10.2020