Innovation for better climate protection - METRO Cash & Carry wholesale store with solar roof

On 23 October 2007 an ultramodern photovoltaic system was commissioned on the roof of the METRO Cash & Carry wholesale store in Düsseldorf. The 9,200 square meter system, half of which is equipped with solar panels of the latest generation, uses the sunlight to generate power and thereby directly contributes to protecting the climate.

“The use of renewable energies is one of the strategic targets of the group’s construction activities to stress our future-oriented approach“, said Professor Michael Cesarz, CEO of METRO Group Asset Management. The solar system on the roof of the METRO Cash & Carry wholesale store is one of the largest photovoltaic systems installed on a retail building in Germany: with a total output of 230 kWp, it generates more than 200,000 kWh per year. This is roughly comparable to the annual electricity consumption of 45 families of four. The collector surface totaling 9,200 square meters approximately corresponds to the size of a soccer field. Of particular interest is the innovative thin-film solar cell technology that is put tow work in this ultra-modern unit. The solar cells can be affixed directly to the roof like a flexible film. Expensive support systems impacting the building structure are thus no longer required. Roughly half of the collector surface is made of these latest-generation solar panels. The photovoltaic system will supply power on 365 days per year.

Further solar energy projects of the METRO Group are currently being realized at the “Future Store“ in Tönisvorst and at a C+C Schaper wholesale store in Aachen. In addition to generating power from solar energy, the company is currently also pursuing other projects for the use of regenerative energies: room air conditioning (solar chilling) and water heating (heliothermal power) systems operated with solar energy as well as geothermal units in Italy, Germany, Turkey and Poland. “I congratulate METRO Group to one of the largest photovoltaic systems installed on a retail building in Germany“, said Oliver Wittke, Minister for Construction and Transport in North Rhine-Westphalia. “I am very pleased to see that further solar projects initiated by the group are currently under construction".

Compared against other forms of energy, solar power offers many benefits: it is risk-free, does not consume additional soil and does not generate any environmentally polluting emissions. Quite the opposite: for the system on the Metro roof, CO2 savings of 111 tons per year have been calculated. Photovoltaic technology is considered one of the most important and at the same time also most sustainable energy sources of the future.