According to Herwi Rijsdijk, director of ABC Westland Beheer, the installation of the solar panels is part of the organization's sustainability policy, and a response to the demand from international supermarkets to reduce their CO2 footprint in the fresh produce sector. The business buildings in Poeldijk have been built with high RC values and LED lighting for years now and the waste heat from refrigerators is used to heat the offices.
From left to right: Herwi Rijsdijk, Marco van Veen from SolarNRG and Piet Kuyvenhoven from Kuyvenhoven Electrical Engineering.
The 16,000 solar panels (260 watt-peak per panel) will be supplied and installed by SolarNRG, and they will be connected up to the main power supply by Kuyenhoven Electrical Engineering. Altogether the panels will provide a renewable energy output of almost 4 million kWh per year. 40% of the business park's total energy consumption will be generated with these solar panels. This is equivalent to the energy needs of more than 1,000 households. This will reduce the business park's CO2 emission by approximately 2,000 tons per year. This large scale project will receive it's full return on investment within 7 years. This short time period is possible because of the huge savings on electricity costs and the SDE+ that ABC received from RVO. The installation of the solar panels will start January, 2016 and will finish May, 2016.