International logistics company Gebrüder Weiss has inaugurated a new solar power plant at its Pöchlarn location to produce a total of some 1,725 megawatt hours (MWh) per year on a total surface of 16,000 sq m. The major part of the photovoltaic modules on the roof area of the branch are rented out to investors in the energy sector.

The logistics company itself uses 462 solar panels to generate some 130,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar power per year for its own needs on a surface of 786 sq m which corresponds to the demand of approximately 26 households and CO2 savings of some 76 tonnes per year. With this amount of electricity, Gebrüder Weiss Pöchlarn covers approximately 25% of its daily power requirements. “Obviously, we want to make use of the new source of energy within the company in the best possible way. This is why we are going to charge our forklift trucks, for instance, by means of rechargeable batteries during the day in future, instead of during the night as previously,” says Bernhard Schartmüller, branch manager of Gebrüder Weiss Pöchlarn.

After a construction period of two and a half months, the fifth solar power plant installed at a Gebrüder Weiss location in Austria went on stream. Also in Kennelbach (Vorarlberg), Maria Saal (Carinthia) and Wels (Upper Austria), electricity is being produced from solar energy, while the roofs of the transhipment and logistics warehouses in Maria Lanzendorf near Vienna are rented out to a solar power company. Two more plants are located in Memmingen (Bavaria) in Southern Germany.

Across the Corporate Group, approximately 784,000 kWh of electricity are sustainably produced for the company’s own use, the total output of the plants being approximately 5,200 MWh. Investing in photovoltaic technology is one of many measures taken by the logistics company to reduce its CO2 emissions and make a contribution to environmental protection.