Introducing BBS’ New Green Roof Solar System

Rooftop solar systems are the simplest, best and cheapest option in cities for generating climate-friendly electricity and becoming independent of fluctuations in electricity prices.

The Climate Group had been pursuing the plan to finally install a solar system on the roof of BBS Primary for some time. However, the existing green roof proved to be an obstacle. This raised doubts about the statics of additional loads. Fortunately, the technology continued to develop and some manufacturers specialized in “green roof solar systems”.

It therefore took some research to find a company that could combine the existing green roof with solar panels. It was then necessary to compare the offers and obtain the go-ahead for the implementation of the project in a further structural analysis report.

In a further step, the Climate Group investigated state subsidies.

The special green roof solar system chosen has an installed capacity of approx. 45 kWp.

Once the rooftop solar system is connected to the inverter in the basement, which converts the electricity generated by the solar panels into alternating current and feeds it into the school's electricity circuit, a large proportion of the school's electricity consumption can be covered by the solar system on sunny days. In view of the sharp rise in electricity costs in recent years, this represents an important contribution to reducing the increase in operating costs of the school. On particularly sunny days, electricity can even be fed into the Berlin power grid, for which the school operator Pfefferwerk also receives a feed-in tariff.

The Climate Group was very pleased that the technicians were able to install the PV panels relatively quickly. Additionally, the Climate Group plans to visualize the current power generation of the rooftop solar system on the screen in the school entrance area.

Once the solar system is connected to the school’s electricity circuit and the Berlin grid, we are combining an important step towards reducing the school's carbon footprint with savings on electricity costs (and even income from the feed-in tariff).