Where Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia meet, it’s not just fox and hare that say good night. Soon, a solar showcase project between Himmighausen and Oeynhausen will also ensure further energy independence.
Land is a rare commodity. Even in the countryside, farmers compete with commercial areas, construction areas with landscape protection areas, and solar systems with nature conservation areas. And so it was not at all easy to get approval for a planned 16-hectare solar park.
But the owner of the land, Georg von Puttkamer, was not discouraged by the initial headwind and changed the original plans several times. In the meantime, the responsible authorities have given the green light for the “Nieheim solar park” thanks to the subsequent improvements. The term “park” is to be understood literally, because meadow orchards, hedges and copses are to take away the industrial character of the energy production. Sheep are to keep superfluous greenery short, while bee meadows and nature trails invite visitors to linger.
A total of 30,000 modules are spread across the site and are expected to generate up to 11.2 megawatts of power. Enough energy to supply around 3,200 households with electricity all year round. The park is being built by the project company BLG from Kassel in northern Hesse. And BLG is one of Phoenix Contact’s system partners.
The East Westphalians are supplying not only connection technology and sensor technology, but also the central feed-in controllers that regulate and monitor power transmission to the power grid. Jörg Nolte, Vice President VMM Infrastructure, is convinced by the project not only because it can serve as a model for other solar parks through its citizen participation. “The park is scheduled to open in 2023. And thus just in time for our 100th anniversary of Phoenix Contact. So we have a real innovation, both technologically and in terms of landscape planning and sustainability, and right on our doorstep,” the top manager is pleased to say.
Projektgesellschaft BLG
Gut Himmighausen
Phoenix Contact Solar
