Two new plants: PKV significantly expands use of solar power
Two new photovoltaic systems are being built on PKV’s hall roofs. Their green electricity helps to reduce the use of natural gas
Together, the two plants will generate around 6.1 megawatts (MWp) of power, increasing the total solar power output on PKV roofs to 7.9 MWp. The two new plants are made up of more than 16,000 solar modules on almost 50,000 square metres of roof surface. The first of these plants has already been installed and is about to be commissioned, for which PKV is using the roofs of logistics halls on the former site of the Varel barracks. A second system will be installed on warehouse roofs at the factory itself in the course of the year.
The investment of several million euros will pay off – PKV will use all of the green electricity from these plants itself and can therefore dispense with the use of natural gas as an energy source. It is true that even in this way only a small part of the energy required in the paper industry, especially for drying the wet paper webs, can be generated. But since the PKV’s path to CO2-free production will not be mastered in one step anyway, it will depend on an increasingly sustainable mix of different energies. The expansion of solar power use makes a contribution here, as do PKV’s own biogas and a module for converting wind power into process heat. PKV is working intensively on making the production of its recycled paper and recycled cardboard as climate-neutral as possible – as the best possible contribution to ecologically perfect packaging.