Agriculture has shaped GP JOULE: Ove Petersen and Heinrich Gärtner had already been realising PV projects on their farms for a few years. In 2009, the two agricultural engineers decided to utilise their knowledge and experience to found GP JOULE.
Their vision: To supply industry, transport, and society with 100% renewable energy. Their attitude: Respect for all partners and responsibility for the environment and future generations.
And with this drive GP JOULE is starting. As early as 2010, solar and biogas plants with a combined output of more than 100 MW are installed. In 2011, the largest solar park in Germany at the time was built with an output of 140 MW, of which GP JOULE installed 70 MW itself. All of this on the spoil tip of a former open-cast lignite mine. New green energy replaces old energy.
In 2012, GP JOULE enters the green hydrogen business, the first wind farm planned by GP JOULE is connected to the grid and the first GP JOULE solar parks are opened in Italy and France. And so it continues: GP JOULE expands to Canada and the USA to plan, design and install solar parks there too. The green revolution is everywhere.
And GP JOULE is not standing still: The integration of sectors remains the goal in order to finally decarbonise all areas. To this end, a separate division, CONNECT, is being founded to take care of e-mobility and charging solutions, the revolutionary hydrogen project eFarm is being driven forward and in 2022 GP JOULE will once again be involved in what is now the largest solar park in Germany. Again where lignite was once mined. This time, however, it will have an output of 300 megawatts.
And so the GP JOULE Group keeps growing, now employing more than 850 people - without forgetting its roots. To this day, the group's two headquarters are located on the farms of the two founders in Reußenköge and Buttenwiesen. And the first solar systems that the two planned still supply energy. Energy that we use to turn an idea into a 100% sustainable reality - for the benefit of our partners, society and the environment.