Sun power at Düsseldorf Airport

At the end of October, HABDANK PV had already begun the erection of a two-megawatt photovoltaic system at the Düsseldorf airport on behalf of IBC Solar. The system, which can cover the power requirement of around 570 households every year with its almost two million kilowatt hours, is intended to be put into operation before the end of the year. With 8,400 modules and an area of around six football pitches, the system located within the safety zone of the airport is one of the largest in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Arriving and departing passengers can get a glimpse of the system from the airplane; it is located in the northwestern part of the airport grounds at the end of the runways. To ensure that the air traffic is not hindered by any glare, the alignment of the modules was determined by means of a light emission survey. The angle of inclination of the module tables was determined to be 20 degrees and the rotation from South to West 36 degrees. Compared to this, a standard system at our latitude is built with an inclination of 30 degrees and facing South.

The concrete foundations on which the system is built are an additional special feature of this building project. For technical reasons, anchoring of the posts that carry the module tables in the ground cannot be carried out. In order to ensure a secure state of the construction despite this, 2,100 concrete precast foundations weighing 900 kg each will be produced and installed in the system. 86 truck deliveries and 200 tonnes of concrete are required for this.