Press
Neunkirchen, 25 June 2025. A good year and a half after the groundbreaking ceremony, the time has come: The largest ground-mounted photovoltaic system in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district has been officially inaugurated. A total of 3,240 state-of-the-art PV modules can produce up to almost 2 million kilowatt hours of renewable, climate-friendly electricity per year. The investor is the SCHÄFER WERKE Group, which has thus reached an important milestone on its path to becoming climate neutral by 2030.
The solar park, with a total area of PV modules of 9,000 square metres, has been built northeast of the SCHÄFER site on the Pfannenberg. The installed capacity of approximately two megawatts peak (2 MWp) is capable of covering around one third of the total electricity requirements at the SCHÄFER WERKE Group's main location. The environmentally friendly power generation enables annual savings of 926,574 kg CO2. The aim is to achieve a high share of 68.1% of the solar energy generated for internal consumption. This will reduce SCHÄFER WERKE's dependence on external energy sources, increase its security of supply and optimise its CO2 footprint at the same time.
As a family-run company with over 85 years of history, the SCHÄFER WERKE Group has always considered it its responsibility to take ecological sustainability into account in all its business activities and to take appropriate measures. ‘The completion of the solar park is a decisive step towards a sustainable future. The investment, which runs into millions, is a central component of our concept, with which we aim to achieve climate neutrality in accordance with Scope 1 and 2 by 2030,’ says Marcus Düber, Managing Director of the SCHÄFER WERKE Group. As a positive additional effect, the approximately 11,500 square metre site will, once the solar park is completed, provide ecologically valuable refuges for plants, insects, birds and reptiles in the future.
High standards of sustainability also applied to the construction of the solar park. Only CO2-reduced steel from the XCarb® brand by ArcelorMittal was used for the PV module racks. EMW Stahl-Service-Center, a division of the SCHÄFER WERKE Group, was responsible for this. The company sees itself as a pioneer in the trade and processing of so-called ‘green steel’. In close cooperation with the customer, BECKER Profile GmbH, EMW was also able to keep the distances short for processing the required steel profiles – for a holistically ecological project.
The solar park was planned and implemented in collaboration with CUBE CONCEPTS, an experienced planning and full-service company for commercial photovoltaic systems. ‘We are delighted that our specialists were able to design and implement a tailor-made solution for future-oriented energy generation for this location,’ explains Luca Bermpohl, Account Manager at CUBE CONCEPTS. ‘The Pfannenberg project shows how companies can consistently combine their sustainability strategy with ecological added value and economic benefits.’
Marcus Düber concludes: ‘The inauguration of our solar park on National Sustainability Day is a milestone for the SCHÄFER WERKE Group. We would like to thank all our external partners and service providers, as well as our dedicated employees, who contributed to the successful implementation.’
