Press releases

Building management experts have literally climbed onto the roof of what is certainly one of the most extraordinary properties owned by the city of Aachen and made it fit for the future: the new photovoltaic system with its 264 modules, which now stands on the music bunker on Goffartstraße in the Frankenberger Viertel, covers 401 square meters.

The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030. Solar energy is an important building block for this. The administration is pursuing an innovative system to feed electricity into the grid. The first large PV systems have been and are currently being installed, with many more to follow in the coming months and years.

The climate construction project also included the renovation of the music bunker's flat roof. Over an area of around 1,700 square meters, the ageing roof waterproofing was overhauled and refurbished with a bitumen-based regeneration membrane. The capacity of the new PV system installed on the Musikbunker is just under 98 kilowatt peak (kWpeak). Experts estimate an annual electricity production of 100,400 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year - roughly equivalent to the consumption of 25 single-family homes. This system alone will save over 47 tons of CO2 per year in the future. The final connection will be made shortly. Electricity will then be generated on the Musikbunker roof.

However, the electricity is not automatically consumed directly on site. This is because the city's photovoltaic strategy extends beyond the individual building. This is because the system of "regional direct marketing" means that the regeneratively generated electricity, which flows continuously during daylight hours via systems such as the one on the Musikbunker roof, is always "directed" to where it is needed. This means, for example, that traffic lights or other buildings in the city can ultimately also be supplied with electricity from the Musikbunker The idea of regional direct marketing was developed by the building management team. Above all, it is an extremely economical system and ideal for the city's CO2 balance. This is because the electricity that is produced locally remains in Aachen. Many other municipalities in Germany are now even interested in the Aachen system.

PV expansion status and plans
The city's goal is to install and operate photovoltaic systems on all suitable roofs of municipal buildings over the next three to four years in order to use the electricity in the form of regional direct marketing.

An analysis shows that the city could enable an output of 14,000 kWpeak in the near future. This corresponds to an annual electricity production of 12,500 megawatt hours (MWh). This would save 5600 tons of CO2! For comparison: the electricity consumption of all municipal buildings is around 24,000 MWh per year. In a few years' time, the city should therefore cover half of its municipal electricity consumption with its own PV systems. In 2025 alone, a further 22 PV systems with a connected load of around 1,600 kWpeak are therefore to be installed on municipal roofs.

Further information on the activities of the City of Aachen as part of the "Aachen tackles the future" campaign can be found at www.aachenklima.de