Dorthmund’s 5000th home solar system inaugurated

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Yesterday, the 5,000th photovoltaic system in a private household was connected to the grid in the German city of Dortmund. Mayor of Dortmund Thomas Westphal paid a visit to the resident Tom Bauernfeind whose solar panel marked the special milestone.

Mayor Westphal stated: “We must continue to make significant progress in expanding photovoltaics on Dortmund’s roofs! Our immediate climate program will generate momentum for this.”

In the average year, the 5,000 Dortmund systems can create roughly 56 million kilowatt-hours on the rooftops of private residences, companies or municipal institutions, with a total output of around 63 megawatts. This is enough to supply approximately 13,500 four-person households with electricity. That makes Dortmund one of the leaders in the province North Rhine-Westphalia when it comes to the number of installed photovoltaic systems.

“Our city is driving the energy transition. We are proud to be involved in climate-friendly Dortmund and, as a network operator, to offer the infrastructure for it. There is enormous potential for climate protection on the roofs of Dortmund,” Mayor Westphal stressed.

The province of North Rhine-Westphalia also scores respectably in this field on the national level. Dortmund’s 5000 systems together with 2,000 reported for Düsseldorf and around 2,800 in Essen bring North Rhine-Westphalia to the third place, out of Germany’s 16 provinces.

In May this year, mayor Westphal presented the “Immediate Climate Program” which aims to effectively reduce CO2 emissions in Dortmund. Improved climate protection in Dortmund is meant to contribute to a higher quality of life for the city’s residents but also ensure more jobs. The aim goes hand in hand with German government goal’s to gradually raise the contribution of renewables to the country’s overall electricity consumption.

“This program includes the establishment of a Dortmund Fund, a sustainability network and a municipal heat and roof utilization program with a large number of additional photovoltaic systems,” mayor of Dortmund Thomas Westphal explained.

 

Photo credit: Bill Mead/Unsplash