Electronics producer Panasonic has announced that its “HIT” Solar Panels were chosen for the new offices of the German Federal Environment Agency. The new building at Berlin-Marienfelde will have its grand opening on August 30, with the ministry’s staff moving into the new sustainable offices in September.
When the Federal Bureau for Building and Regional Planning agreed to add an annex to the Federal Environment Agency’s offices, it set a strict energy-saving requirement: a “net zero building” expected to generate all the necessary energy by itself. Panasonic recommends with confidence that its “HIT” solar modules will achieve this goal.
The “HIT” solar cell is made of a thin monocrystalline silicon wafer surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers. This product provides the industry’s leading performance and value based on the state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques.
The project team for planning and installing the energy system of the new building at Berlin-Marienfelde went to the Schimmel Engineering Bureau, which specializes in planning energy-efficient buildings.
“We estimated the required energy output to be around 46,000 kWh/year. Therefore we were looking everywhere for solar panels that could supply this amount as well as were suitable for the limited roof space. In that sense, “HIT” products were the only panels that could meet our requirement”, explains Project leader Oliver Nienaber.
AS Solar, the German wholesale distributor, supplied and delivered 281 modules of “HIT H250” with a module efficiency of 18.0% and a nominal capacity of 70 kWp. The special “HIT” technology provides a higher conversion efficiency and greater power generation amount within a limited space.
Wahl Elektro Technik GmbH, the installation company, took only three days to install all of the panels. The solar modules are now ready to operate and create energy for the ministry annex, which has 31 workspaces.
In addition to the solar PV system, the building benefits from several other designs for renewable energy: a water source heat pump handles heating and cooling, and solar thermal panels supply hot water. A ventilation system with a heat-recovery unit efficiently improves the indoor climate.
The building is thus in line with Article 9 of the EU legislation on the energy efficiency of buildings, stating that buildings occupied and owned by public authorities have to be nearly net zero energy buildings by 2019.
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and engineering of electronic technologies and solutions for customers in residential, non-residential, mobility and personal applications. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates over 500 consolidated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.30 trillion yen (68 billion Euro) for the year ended March 31, 2013.
