Solar panels connected to 7 wastewater treatment plants
The project to connect seven small solar farms to the wastewater treatment plants was completed today. Executive Board member Herman Beerda and sustainability advisor Tjitse Mollema symbolically commissioned the solar farms. They did so at the facility in Eelde, where the first solar panel was installed last year.
Small-scale solar farms were installed at a total of seven wastewater treatment plants in Eelde, Feerwerd, Onderdendam, Wehe den Hoorn, Leek, Winsum, and Delfzijl.
Noorderzijlvest aims to be energy-neutral by 2025
We strive to use less energy wherever possible and generate our own renewable energy. One way we do this is by converting sewage sludge into biogas. Wastewater treatment plants require a significant amount of electricity. From now on, we will generate a large portion of the energy we need here sustainably using solar panels. In Westerkwartier, a new wastewater treatment plant will eventually be built at the Gaarkeuken site. This will replace the current plants in Marum, Zuidhorn, and Gaarkeuken. Once this new treatment plant is completed, solar panels will be installed there too.
The solar panels can generate approximately 1,500,000 kWh per year
There are now a total of approximately 4,000 solar panels at the seven sites, with a capacity of 1.7 MWp. Once the new Gaarkeuken wastewater treatment plant is equipped with solar panels, the solar panels will supply approximately 12% of the energy used by the water authority.