Warncke Car Dealership Offsets 81%* of its Energy Consumption with Solar, Moving One Step Closer to Net Zero Target

• New 98kWp rooftop solar system and 23kWh of energy storage installed at its facility near Bremen
• Up to 81%* of daily energy use now covered by solar with estimated annual energy bill savings of €18,000 – countering the dealership’s high energy usage costs since the increasing number of e-vehicles in the sales department and company fleet.
• The move to solar will also offset approximately 36 tons of CO2 per year – a major step towards the dealership achieving its Net Zero goal
• In order to maximize energy production for faster ROI, the new solar installation leverages innovative DC-optimized inverter technology in place of a conventional string solar system.

Munich, Germany - October 18, 2024 – Warncke, a leading car dealership near Bremen specializing in electromobility, has expanded its deployment of rooftop solar with a new 98kWp installation at its Tarmstedt facility. Featuring 242 Sunpower solar modules and powered by SolarEdge DC-optimized inverter technology, the new installation is providing clean power to the showroom and the dealership’s fleet of EVs. Further maximizing the economics of solar energy, Warncke has also installed 23kW of battery storage to store solar energy produced in the day for use outside of business hours. 

The switch to solar energy for Warncke is seen as a contribution to Volkswagen's ambitious ‘Way to Zero’** initiative, the overarching goal to achieve net zero CO2 emissions across the Group, including the dealership locations, by 2050. Warncke has been producing solar energy since 2007, when the owners and brothers, Peter and Wolf Warncke, installed their first 11 kWp rooftop solar system on the company’s main building - at that time still private and with 100 per cent feed-in. Following the dealership’s latest installation, solar energy is now covering 81% of Warncke’s daily energy use, reducing the dealership’s annual carbon emissions by approximately 36 tons.

The Warncke dealership, situated in the municipality of Tarmstedt, with its 50 kW CCS charging station which was installed back in 2016 - making it the first fast charging station in the entire Elbe-Weser region and therefore a popular charging stop for early, courageous long-distance e-mobilists, e.g. from the Netherlands, Denmark or Norway - has been a pioneer of electromobility in the region for years. In addition to vehicle sales, the dealership also offers contract service for the Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi and Škoda brands as well as a car hire service. Due to increasing electrification, the dealership's energy consumption is rising despite energy-saving measures such as the switch to LED lighting. With an average annual self-consumption rate of around 75 per cent, the solar system covers around 38 per cent of the company's electricity requirements. In addition, around 25 per cent of the electricity produced is fed into the public grid. The car dealership expects to save around 18,000 euros per year on its electricity bill.

Peter Warncke, Co-owner of Warncke, comments, “Through the development of electromobility in recent years, a new landscape has been created. Electricity consumption, which has fallen in the past years as a result of various energy-saving measures, has recently risen again due to electrification, particularly in the vehicle fleet industry, and we expect this increase to continue. Increasing our self-sufficiency rate not only reduces our electricity costs, but also emphasises our commitment to the Volkswagen ‘Way to Zero’ initiative. We also see other companies in our industry following this path.”

The new solar and storage system was installed by Powertrust, a leading solar installer in the region. In order to increase energy production from Warncke’s east to west rooftop orientation, Powertrust installed a SolarEdge DC-optimized inverter system with power optimizers, alongside a foil roof to further boost energy generation. Power optimizers are small innovative devices that sit behind individual solar panels, enabling them to achieve peak energy generation even in the presence of shading. Unlike traditional string inverter technologies, should power efficiency be down on a specific panel, this individual panel issue is isolated and does not affect the rest of the solar array – ensuring Warncke achieves maximum power production, which was key to its investment. 

Hauke Heitshusen, Sales Manager at Powertrust, explains: “This level of flexibility when designing a solar installation not possible with regular string inverter technology, since all solar panels in the string must be positioned with the same angle and tilt. SolarEdge’s power optimizers enable each panel to work individually, giving us the versatility required when planning the installation to take full advantage of the sun at different hours of the day, and subsequently, produce more energy from the system. Having power optimizers on individual panels also enables real-time monitoring at a panel-level, not only allowing Warncke to more closely track system performance, but also enable our maintenance team to quickly identify and fix any specific panel issues remotely to help ensure uninterrupted operation.”

_{**Infos: https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/de/pressemitteilungen/way-to-zero-volkswagen-stellt-fahrplan-fuer-klimaneutrale-mobilitaet-vor-7081}