The carbon footprint of Europe’s largest port may shrink with the installation of 3,100 solar panels on the roof of frigoCare’s 14,000 pallet-capacity cold-store in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The system installed by renewable energy company Zon Exploitatie Nederland (ZEN) covers an area of 7,500 sq meters and has a generating capacity of 750,000 kWh of electricity annually.

New rooftop solar installation in the port of Rotterdam. Image source: frigoCareThe installation was completed at a cost of about 1 million euros ($1.12 million). The solar panel system is owned by ZEN while frigoCare, a unit of logistics company Samskip, will benefit from a 325 tpy reduction in carbon emissions. The cold-store uses around 2.7 GWh /year, and the solar panels could meet around 30% of this requirement. Any excess power will go back to the local electricity grid.

On its own, the installation increases the amount of energy generated by solar power in Rotterdam – currently 3 GWh, according to municipality figures – by 25%. The 2018 goal for Rotterdam is 20 GWh, and 1,000 GWh by 2030.