Solar power for 725 households: Insights into the solar park near Hochstadt

Created: 05/20/2022, 09:00

By: Stefan Reich

A new solar park now stands on a filled gravel pit.

The opening came (from left) project manager Julian Hindelang from the company Vispiron, Christoph Klitzner and Thomas Grün from the Sparkasse Ebergsberg, which is financing the investment, Vispiron managing director Florian Schönberger and Weßling's mayor Michael Sturm.

© Andrea Jaksch

The new solar park near Hochstadt has been in operation since December.

The private-sector project, which also includes an electricity storage system, has now been presented to the public.

Weßling – The weather couldn't be more suitable for this occasion.

The sun is shining from a cloudless sky when the Vispiron company from Munich presents its new solar park near Weßling to the public on Wednesday afternoon.

The open-space photovoltaic system on a refilled part of a gravel pit between Hochstadt, Unterbrunn and the special airport Oberpfaffenhofen is busy producing electricity.

Visitors huddle together in the sparse shade provided by a white 40-foot container.

Managing Director Florian Schönberger is just explaining details of the project when his voice is drowned out by a loud boom.

The ventilation in the container has started and ensures that the 432 lithium-ion batteries inside - each the size of a home computer - do not overheat.

"Current is currently flowing into the batteries," explains Schönberger when he can be understood again.

The battery storage in the container is what makes this solar system special.

This means that the electricity does not have to be fed into the grid when the sun is shining.

It can be sold if the selling price on the electricity markets is attractive.

Due to the expansion of wind and solar systems, the amount of electricity in the grid fluctuates depending on where the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.

The price fluctuates with the quantity, "over the course of the day from almost zero to around 300 euros per megawatt hour," explains Schönberger.

If you had to feed in the electricity immediately when the solar panels generate it on the open space behind the container, you often wouldn't get very much money for it.

Because that is exactly when other solar systems are running at full capacity.

System is part of a project with storage facilities in Uffing, Peißenberg and Thuringia

The accumulator was developed by MTU-Rolls Royce, based in Allach.

It can not only absorb the power from the connected system.

It can also be charged from the mains when the market price is low and the batteries are not fully charged.

This electricity can also be sold later at a higher price.

The process of feeding and storing, buying and selling is highly automated, as visitors experience.

Private investors can also invest in the Vispiron parks.

The Weßlinger facility is part of a project with other storage facilities in Uffing, Peißenberg and in Tauthenhain in Thuringia.

From a deposit of 500 euros and a term of seven years, there should be 2.5 percent interest.

Some visitors ask critical questions.

A gentleman wants to know how the capital is secured.

Investors have already gone swimming with solar or win investments.

“We also have a risk,” says Schönberger.

"But unlike other offers, the systems are already there." The main risk is that they will fail technically.

But don't assume that.

The memory should last nine years, after which the batteries would have to be replaced.

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Wessling's Mayor Michael Sturm (Free Voters) also came.

Schönberger thanks him for the openness of the community.

"When we first asked about a solar park on the site in 2009, there was no interest," he says.

"That was different eleven years later." The legal planning foundations were soon laid.

Vispiron bought the 4 acres and installed solar panels.

Since December 2021, they have been generating enough electricity to cover the needs of 725 four-person households over the year.

Sturm says: “We are already talking to the company about new areas.

And about the fact that we will then participate economically.”