Since Greta Thunberg’s outspoken fight against global warming, ecology has become an increasingly important issue for young people who are mobilising in movements such as Youth for Climate. It goes without saying that topics such as sustainable development, eco-technologies or renewable energies are dealt with in class and in the field.
On a cold May morning, we welcomed the students from the Fieldgen public school to the RTL site in Junglinster to show them the impressive ground-mounted photovoltaic installation and its operation. It is indeed important for Enovos to get involved in school projects in order to raise awareness about environmental technology, renewable energy and biodiversity.
What is the share of renewable energy in Luxembourg? How to define a suitable site for a ground-mounted photovoltaic installation? What do I need to pay attention to before installation? How does the electricity end up in my home?
Brief summary:
The national targets for a 25% share of renewable energy by 2030. In order to contribute to this goal, Enovos is investing in large-scale photovoltaic installations throughout the Grand Duchy, while favouring a combined approach of renewable energy and biodiversity/ecology. The location for this is crucial. While industrial roofs are perfectly suited for this type of project, ground-based installations are linked to other additional challenges. Indeed, in order to accommodate a photovoltaic installation, the use of the land must be compatible with sufficient available space and the management of the ground surface requires particular care to favour local biodiversity.
The RTL Group’s site in Junglinster (as well as Beidweiler) was therefore ideally suited to hosting this installation, which is capable of producing enough energy to supply 616 households with electricity per year. Enovos was keen to combine renewable energy with ecology by allowing sheep to graze on the grass under the solar panels, while keeping the meadow under proper management to encourage the development of biodiversity on the site. It was with undisguised curiosity that the goats, which had previously been lying quietly in the rain under the panels, welcomed their guests, to the delight of the students.
After an indoor explanatory session during which Eric Golinelli (Enovos) and Eugène Muller (RTL Group) presented the technical aspects of the installation and showed the production data of the panels in real time (every cloud is visible on the production curves!), the students then went to the field to discover the panels, the inverters as well as the stages of connection to the network located on the other side of the street. In this way, the students learned how sunlight is transformed into electricity, why the installation is most efficient in spring (the installed system works best with sunlight but without too much heat) and why the neighbours of the installation are the first to benefit from this almost “home-made” electricity…
