Jungheinrich opens Hamburg's largest solar parking lot
Jungheinrich invests 1.7 million euros in Hamburg's largest solar parking lot. 630 solar modules with a peak output of 200 kWp supply clean electricity for 52 e-car charging points.
- 630 photovoltaic modules supply electricity for 52 e-car charging points
- Efficient use of sealed surfaces as a contribution to the fight against climate change
- Goal: CO2e-neutral business operations at all Jungheinrich locations including all plants by 2030
Hamburg - Jungheinrich has covered the employee car park at its corporate headquarters in Hamburg-Wandsbek with a photovoltaic system. The 1,100-square-metre facility was opened today by Dr Melanie Leonhard, Hamburg’s Senator for Economics and Innovation, Jungheinrich CEO Dr Lars Brzoska and Matthias Boxberger, Chairman of the Hamburg Industrial Association. With 630 photovoltaic modules and a peak output of around 200 kilowatts, the solar car park is the largest of its kind in Hamburg. In the future, Jungheinrich employees will be able to charge their private electric vehicles during working hours at 48 of the total of 52 e-charging points below the solar canopies. Four further charging points are freely accessible and thus form part of Hamburg's public charging infrastructure for electric mobility. The annual output of the solar car park's photovoltaic roofing is sufficient to fully charge the batteries of an average of around 4,000 electric cars per year. Jungheinrich is investing a total of 1.7 million euros in the new facility. The Group has not taken advantage of any public funding for this.
Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: "More climate protection requires concrete action on the ground - by politicians, society and companies. Jungheinrich is taking responsibility for this here in Hamburg. With the photovoltaic system on its car park, the company is not only focusing on renewable energies but also on promoting electromobility. Every ray of sunlight that hits these solar panels becomes clean energy for electric vehicles. Such measures are, on the one hand, economically smart and, on the other hand, an important contribution to the preservation our planet for future generations."
Dr Lars Brzoska, Chairman of the Board of Management of Jungheinrich AG: "At Jungheinrich, we consider sustainability to be our economic, ecological and social obligation. Since 2021, all Jungheinrich sites in Germany have been sourcing green electricity exclusively. Now, with our solar car park, we produce clean energy ourselves exactly where it is needed - at the charging points for our employees' electric cars. We are thus contributing to the energy and transport turnaround and moving another step closer to our goal of becoming CO2e-neutral at all Jungheinrich locations, including all plants, by 2030."
Matthias Boxberger, Chairman of the Hamburg Industrial Association: "Our Hamburg-based industrial companies have been climate protection champions for some time now! While politicians are still discussing a photovoltaic obligation for parking spaces in the Climate Protection Act, a leading Hamburg industrial company is already ensuring its implementation. This shows that free entrepreneurial action can often reduce CO2 emissions faster than bureaucratic regulations. For Hamburg's industry, climate protection has long been one of the decisive corporate goals."
Electricity from renewable energy sources is an alternative to fossil fuels and thus makes a decisive contribution to climate protection. Rising electricity and energy prices also pose challenges for Hamburg's economy, so the topics of energy security and self-sufficiency have also become more relevant. As only limited land is available in the Hamburg metropolis for the expansion of renewable energies, the use of photovoltaic systems over already sealed areas such as commercial and industrial sites offers enormous potential for the inner-city area.
The solar car park opened today at Jungheinrich was planned and implemented by the energielenker Group. The green electricity generated here flows directly into the electric charging points erected below, as well as into the power supply of the Jungheinrich Group headquarters, on roof of which photovoltaic modules are also installed. Jungheinrich feeds any surplus electricity from its photovoltaic system into Hamburg's public grid. Since 2021, all Jungheinrich sites in Germany, including the six German plants, have been sourcing exclusively green electricity. To reduce Group-wide greenhouse gas emissions from the use of electricity, heat and steam (Scope 2), the Jungheinrich Group is driving forward the switch to renewable energies worldwide. The switch to green electricity has already been completed in 21 countries. In 2022 alone, Jungheinrich already saved some 18,900 tonnes of CO2e emissions, roughly equivalent to the annual carbon storage capacity of 3,150 hectares of forest. Jungheinrich aims to establish CO2e-neutral business activities at all its locations and plants worldwide by 2030. Generating its own electricity with the help of on-site photovoltaic systems makes an important contribution to this.
At the same time, Jungheinrich is driving forward the electrification of intralogistics. The last Jungheinrich truck with an internal combustion engine rolled off the production line in Moosburg near Munich in Bavaria in March 2023. Since then, the company has been producing 100 per cent electric trucks. Jungheinrich is thus the first company in its sector to have completed the full transformation to electric mobility. Founded in 1953, the company has been building electric trucks for 70 years These are used in warehouses all over the world. To this day Jungheinrich is the technology leader when it comes to electromobility in warehouses, and in particular with regard to modern lithium-ion batteries, which make an even greater contribution to climate protection than conventional lead-acid batteries.
