In Donauwörth (Donau-Ries district), Airbus Helicopters now manufactures helicopters and aircraft doors using climate-neutral solar power. GP JOULE and the Airbus subsidiary have concluded an electricity supply contract for this purpose. The 3.5 megawatt plant at the Donauried Energy Park in Tapfheim supplies the nearby factory directly via a power line. The six-kilometre-long power line connecting the plant to Airbus Helicopters' medium-voltage grid had to cross the Danube underground once.
Around 3.85 gigawatt hours of electricity are now produced there every year. The so-called PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) secures stable, favourable electricity prices for Airbus in the long term and thus strengthens the company's location in Donauwörth. At the same time, Airbus saves over 1,200 tons of CO2 emissions - every year.
Heinrich Gärtner
Co-founder and CTO of GP JOULE
"In times of rising energy costs for fossil fuels combined with foreseeably increasing CO2 taxes, regionally generated electricity from solar and wind energy plants offers the cheaper alternative. A direct power supply contract helps companies secure their production at calculable and reliable prices."
A lighthouse project for GP JOULE which has high significance and reach for the region
"For Airbus Helicopters, the project is a further step towards switching to alternative and regenerative energies and thus contributes to reducing gas consumption at the site - regionally generated and 100 per cent regenerative," says Helmut Färber, site manager and member of the management board of Airbus Helicopters.
The photovoltaic system was symbolically put into operation at a ceremony on the grounds of the Energy Park. In addition to State Secretary for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert, numerous members of the German parliament and the state parliament as well as district councillors and mayors from Donauwörth, Dillingen and Augsburg came to celebrate this milestone together with the two companies and others involved in the project.