The Planetencenter retail park in Garbsen, near Hannover, is to be equipped with a photovoltaic system covering an area of around 43,000 square feet. A special fund from Union Investment, which has owned the retail property since 2022, will provide the financing. The system will be built and later operated by ENVIRIA, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany's leading solar company for commercial and industrial applications. Installation of the 2,204 photovoltaic modules began at the end of November and is expected to be completed by mid-2025. These modules are expected to produce around 880,000 kWh of electricity per year. This will enable annual CO2 savings of around 410 tonnes to be achieved in the future. To compensate for the same amount of CO2 in another way, for example, would require 14,000 mature trees. In addition to providing common electricity for the centre, the plant is primarily intended to supply tenants of the buildings at Planetenring 25-27 and 31-33 with low-cost electricity produced on site. Any surplus will be fed into the grid in Garbsen. The 16,500 sq m of rental space is home to around 37 units occupied by tenants including Edeka, Aldi, Rossmann, Deichmann, Fressnapf, KIK and Tedi, as well as numerous service providers and catering outlets. The new solar installation is part of a broader solar strategy pursued by Union Investment. The real estate investor views it as an important step towards sustainability. ‘The Planetencenter is the first of three pilot projects from our retail and logistics portfolio that we are using to identify the future potential of infrastructure investments in existing properties and to make a very real contribution to phasing out fossil fuels,’ says Henrike Waldburg, a member of the management team at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, Hamburg. The three pilot projects launched by Union Investment in Garbsen, Constance and Nuremberg cover a roof area of over 40,000 m². The estimated volume of electricity generation is over 3.8 million kWh per year in total. ‘Our sale-and-lease-back model allows Union Investment to focus on its core business while we take full responsibility for the PV system. We are pleased to work with Union Investment and to add value to their properties with our expertise in solar energy,’ says Melchior Schulze-Brock, managing director of ENVIRIA. Photo: ENVIRIA