Glastuinbouw BraZander from Bleiswijk saves space by floating solar panels on its rainwater basin. Grower Paul Zandman: "We have put just under 500 solar panels here, which is enough to power 120 households".
Speaking to BNR, he says: "Apart from storing rainwater, we weren't using our basin. Because the water has a cooling capacity, the efficiency of solar panels goes up. The panels are cooled at the bottom, and that makes for better efficiency."
The floating solar panels have a higher efficiency because the water cools the panels. According to Zandman, the panels are more expensive and the disadvantage is that you have to remove them all if you ever have to do anything to the basin. That's quite a lot of work'. But the solar panels make the grower 100 percent self-sufficient.
According to program manager Regional Strategy Rotterdam/The Hague Ralph Savelberg, there are big plans for the basins. 'There are approximately 1,200 basins in South Holland. We want to have about 300 of these with solar panels by 2030.' A pilot has been started to investigate the feasibility of this project.
The organization Energie Samen Zuid-Holland is also involved, they want cooperation between citizens and companies on sustainable energy projects. Coordinator Menno van der Woude has the desire to work together as a cooperative of residents in an enterprising way. 'All kinds of great funds have been created for that.'