Falkenthal Energy Park

Renewable energy supply in the region, for the region

Falkenthal Energy Park in the municipality Löwenberger Land (district of Oberhavel, Brandenburg) shows how well a three-pillar energy concept based on sun, wind and biomass can be adapted to the growing needs of the companies and people in a region.

The heart of the energy park is a biogas plant that was planned and is being operated jointly by Energiequelle GmbH and Falkenthaler Rinderhof eG, a local cattle farm. The plant has an installed electrical output of 537 kilowatts and a thermal capacity of 483 kilowatts. The approximately 4,500 megawatt hours of annually generated electricity are fed into the public grid, while the thermal energy generated by the connected combined heat and power plant is used to dry wood and supply heat to the surrounding workshops and administrative buildings. The raw materials necessary for the operation of the plant – cattle slurry and corn silage – are obtained locally and made available by Falkenthaler Rinderhof.

2004 & 2005

North of Falkenthal, Energiequelle GmbH had already installed 11 wind turbines manufactured by Enercon , in the years 2004 and 2005. Zossen-based Energiequelle was also responsible for the technical and commercial management of the wind farm, whichcovers the annual electricity requirement of around 6,000 average households with its total installed capacity of 22 megawatts.

2012

In 2012, both companies resumed their collaboration and installed 3,600 photovoltaic modules with a total output of 880 kWp on the roof of the cattle shed, in order to feed additional green electricity into the grid.

2013

In the summer of 2013, local electricity consumers were able draw another immediate benefit from “their” energy park: As of September of that year, Energiequelle has been offering environmentally friendly electricity at very competitive prices to all interested parties in the vicinity of Falkenthal Energy Park.

However, the municipality and the local residents were unable to put up the substantial investments needed to build the separate electricity and district heating grids on their own. Additional funds from the regional government of Brandenburg and from EU programmes were therefore tapped into.