Germany’s largest thin-film pitched roof system begins production

Since 16 October 2008, Germany’s largest thin-film pitched roof system, constructed by Riedel Recycling, has been in operation and producing solar power in Moers near Duisburg. Over eleven thousand cadmium telluride modules, from First Solar, deliver a total of 837 KW. The company uses the former coal-mixing hall in Moers for the storage and preparation of building materials with its 9,500 square meter, south facing, roof fully fitted with solar modules.

“Thin-film modules are a good choice at our latitudes”, said Ludger Riedel, Managing Director, “because they also deliver good yields despite weaker solar radiation.”  When selecting the inverters, Riedel followed the advice of the Kamp-Lintfort system supplier Solaxis GmbH. Solaxis employee Günter Grandjean has been relying on SolarMax for eight years. “My best experiences have been with inverters from Sputnik Engineering,” he says. “The devices are reliable, have a long service life and deliver high yields.”

Four SolarMax central inverters run in the solar power system, with outputs of 300 (2x), 100 and 30 kilowatts respectively. However, inside their housings the inverters do not only convert the direct current from the solar modules into alternating current, they also are capable of heating the administrative buildings in the future.  “The SolarMax inverters produce a total of around 45 kilowatts of waste heat,” explains Günter Grandjean. “We divert this to air-conditioning systems with heat exchangers in the administration building.”  The roof will also be producing electricity in the future. Ludger Riedel and Günter Grandjean are already pondering the installation of additional solar power systems with SolarMax inverters to the external pillars.