ENERGIE-ALLEE The magazine of the juwi group JUNE 2015 SOLAR FUTURE Solar energy has great prospects worldwide. It also no longer has to shy away from profitability comparisons. WALKING THE TALK THE HOME FOR LITTLE RESEARCHERS While the employees at juwi are planning wind parks and solar plants, their children are experimenting with the elements of nature next door in the company day care center “juwelchen”. 2 ENERGIE-ALLEE | JUNE 2015 EVA SCHNEIDER has been working as educator in the “juwelchen” since December 2011. Here she mainly works with the children in the pixy group (“Wichtelgruppe”) and the research lab. She also guides visitors who want to study the pedagogical concept of the kindergarten. In 2014, she welcomed 120 guests from 22 institutions. he salt trickles slowly into the water glass. Raja and Rio take another pinch. And then another. The two look closely at Twhat happens with the sun flower oil which floats in a finger-thick golden-yellow layer on top of the water. “It’s making little bubbles,” Raja notes. And indeed: the oil which bonds to the salt sinks in small droplets to the bottom of the glass. It looks like magic, but it’s a result of physics: oil is lighter than water, but when it is combined with salt it becomes heavier. In order to make the experiment more vivid, the day care teacher Eva Schneider handed out food coloring beforehand. Red, green, yellow. This makes the bub- bles which Raja and Rio are creating in their glasses along with Moritz, Nola, Jonas, and Elena, look a lot like the up and down of the colorful fluids in a lava lamp. At the “juwelchen”, the company daycare center CONSULTATION DAYCARE of juwi, children learn how to understand natural con- The state of Rhineland-Palatinate nections. And the experiment with water, oil, and salt has nominated the “juwelchen” is only one of many. The shelf houses a globe, several as a consultation daycare centre in 2014. This means that educa- hourglasses, paper, paint colors, brushes, books, and tors from other institutions of course wind wheels which turn faster, the more can receive training here, for you blow on them. “Our little ones have their first instance during afternoon eureka moments here in the little research lab and workshops or guest visits. learn to be enthusiastic about nature,” explains Eva Politicians and operators of Schneider. Not just in the “home for little research- other daycare centers may ers” but also outside: they can watch bugs, butter- receive information here. The flies, or bees in an “insect hotel”, plant and harvest “juwelchen” has been a “home lettuce and beans in the vegetable garden. At the for little researchers” since 2013. moment there are about 60 children discovering the A foundation under the same name supports pedagogical world in the “juwelchen” while their parents plan institutions in conveying the where the large wind turbines can catch the wind in responsible treatment of natural the neighboring office building. To make it easier to resources to children. combine work and family, juwi opened its own day- care center in 2009, for the wind park planners of www.haus-der-kleinen- today and those of tomorrow. forscher.de/en 3 CONTENT 18 10 TRAILBLAZERS 24 05 It is neither a theory nor a secret that investments into solar power pay off. Our three trailblazers provide us with reports from their practice. PROJECT 20 The “Galgenberg” (gallows hill) in the Palatine no FIVE MINUTES longer features gallows as it did in the Middle Ages What does a solar eclipse have to do with the but instead highly modern wind turbines. 06 energy transition? Find the answer to this question and many other news items on our 5-minute pages. PARTNER 22 Markus Stillger and Armin Stahl are Asset Managers IN FOCUS with a preference for wind and solar parks from the An American energy supplier, a mine operator from project labs of juwi. 10 Australia, and a winegrower from South Africa: all of them take advantage of the benefits of solar energy. DOCUMENTARY 24 Their history starts in 1996. Since then, a wine- EMPLOYEES grower and a wind energy expert from juwi have 18 From Australia via the Alps all the way to Wörrstadt: been collecting a bountiful harvest. Year after year. portraits of juwi employees. MY POSITION 27 juwi is tackling new challenges with a lot of confi- dence. And with a strong partner by their side. ENERGY 28 Fireflies: beautiful light in the dark. Their energy efficiency is unique. IMPRINT Publisher: juwi AG, Energie-Allee 1, 55286 Wörrstadt; Responsible for content and editor in chief: Christian Hinsch, Thomas Hoch; Editorial team: Benedikt Brüne, Eva Eichberger, Robert Habi, Michael Löhr, Felix Wächter Concept, design, production: SIGNUM communication Werbeagentur GmbH, Mannheim Print: Heyne-Druck GmbH, Offenbach am Main Picture credits: Stephan Dinges (title, pages 2, 3, 10, 27), TWS/Felix Kästle (5), Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (5), picturingafrica.com (5, 14), fotolia.com (6), S. Fischer Verlag (6), Solar Impulse (8), Agency for Renewable Energies (9), Volker Wilhelm (9), Dominion Generation (13), istockphoto.com (28), juwi, private Circulation: 5,200 copies Editorial deadline of this issue: May 11, 2015 4 ENERGIE-ALLEE | JUNE 2015 TRAILBLAZERS IS SOLAR POWER ALREADY COMPETITIVE TODAY? Power from sunlight has noticeable cost benefits for users — even today. An energy supplier from Baden-Wurttemberg, a winemaker from the Cape Town region, and a well-known scientist confirm this from their perspective. HELMUT HERTLE ANTHONY F. CORIN PROFESSOR EICKE R. WEBER is the Managing Director of the TWS Netz GmbH, The South African winegrower owns the He is one of the best-known solar scientists in the which is part of the Technische Werke Schussental SlimSun Swartland solar farm in the north of world. The physicist is the head of the Fraunhofer (TWS). In 2012, juwi installed a 4.5 megawatt solar Cape Town. The operation of the plant that Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, park for the TWS located in Ravensburg. juwi has constructed started in early 2013. Germany, and teaches physics and solar energy at the university there. The reform of the Renewable Energies As a wine farmer who is not running a The rapid development of photovoltaics Act (EEG) requires a great deal of flexibility large-scale commercial operation I had to in Germany – seven gigawatt annually just and individual solutions from developers, look into other mechanisms to balancing in the years 2010 to 2012 – led to a price operators, and customers. When carefully out the overall economic viability of the reduction at the energy exchange since planning and optimizing the customer load farm. That is how we got into solar PV as a solar power served especially peak loads. profile, the use of solar power can be viable ”farming with sun” activity. The best At the same time, these German pioneer- economical for customers, when it is contribution in supporting and sustaining ing efforts led to a boom in the market and compared to obtaining energy from the the rest of the farming activity happens to thus to an unexpectedly rapid reduction in grid, even today. When considering all be through our five megawatt renewable costs. Today one can produce solar power external costs and a medium-term time energy project. Additionally, one of the big for ten euro cent per kWh, i.e. clearly frame, the production of solar power is benefits of the South African Renewable cheaper than power from the socket. The competitive already today compared to Energy Program is the very strong social systems pay off; own consumption and conventional energy sources. For this economic development angle to it. It storage systems have become attractive. reason, the Technische Werke Schussental creates jobs for the immediate community Unfortunately, the latest EEG reform has are consistently expanding their production and that is worth a lot to us. led to uncertainty of citizens and busi- for own use in the area of regenerative nesses, new construction has taken a energy sources. massive hit, Germany is at risk of losing its pioneering role. 5 AWARD-WINNING JUWI RECEIVES HEALTH PRIZE juwi finished in second place at the Alternativer Gesundheitspreis (Alterna- tive Health Prize) 2014 founded by the Health Insurance Fund BKK Advita located in Alzey, Germany. During the award ceremony at the Biofach fair 2015 in Nürnberg, State Secretary Thomas Griese from the Ministry of Health of the state of Rhineland-Palati- nate praised juwi for its extraordinary infrastructure at its company headquar- ters in Wörrstadt. It includes energy- efficient office buildings, a fitness gym, BOOK a football and beach volleyball field, as RECOmmendatiON well as the sustainable concept of the company restaurant “juwitality”. The BKK Advita awards the health prize to honor the commitment of small and medium-sized businesses in the area of health promotion. SOLAR ECLIPSE THURINGIA NAOMI KLEIN: FIVE E-101 ARE ON THE NATIONAL “THIS CHANGES Everything” THE POWER GRID GRID PASSES THE Global warming can still be stopped, but the necessary In Mihla, in the local authority of Wart- climate protection fails due to burgkreis, juwi is currently installing STRESS TEST capitalism. This is Naomi five Enercon E-101 wind turbines and Klein’s thesis in her book “This Changes Everything”. thus its first wind park in the state of The solar eclipse in March caused no problem for The dominance of large Thuringia. Once the park is connected Germany’s power supply system. “It was hard energy corporations is the to the grid, it will produce about 35 going for both the national grid as well as every- problem, as they defend their million kWh of climate-friendly power one involved, but not a serious problem.