Environmentally friendly energy production is becoming increasingly important in view of climate change. In the area of ​​industry and business in particular, there is a lot going on to put climate-friendly concepts into practice. An example of this are photovoltaic systems on the roofs of industrial and logistics buildings. Even though more and more companies are using this type of power generation for themselves, there is still a lot of untapped potential in this area. Making this visible - this is what the "Power of Logistics" initiative of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik e.V. is committed to.

In the last ten years, around 50 million square meters of roof area have been created on German logistics properties. 30 million of these are ideal for installing photovoltaic systems - but so far only a small proportion of them have been used for this purpose. The amount of solar power that could be generated in this way would not only suffice for personal use, especially in large logistics properties, but could also be fed into the public grid to support municipalities and cities in the climate-friendly energy supply. In this way, 2.5 terawatt hours of solar power could be generated on the roof surfaces of the logistics properties that were newly built between 2012 and 2022, which could save around 960,000 tons of CO2 annually. When the sun is particularly strong, the excess electricity could also be used to produce hydrogen to reduce the load on the power grid. This can then be used as fuel for vehicles, for example.

However, the "Power of Logistics" initiative is not only concerned with photovoltaic systems, even if they account for the majority of environmentally friendly energy generation in logistics properties. Also up for discussion is how wind turbines can be used in business parks, combined heat and power plants and water heat pumps to produce climate-friendly energy and support surrounding communities and cities. Kuno Neumeier, CEO of the Logivest Group, spokesman for the topic of logistics real estate at BVL and initiator of the initiative explains: “With the 'Power of Logistics' initiative, we want to emphasize the potential of logistics real estate for the energy transition and the expansion of renewable energies as well as the use of excess capacities from logistics.” To do this, logistics initiatives from all over Germany and stakeholders from the logistics and logistics real estate industry must be united and hurdles overcome. Processes such as planning, material procurement, installation and grid connection are to be simplified with the help of the initiative, as is the bureaucratic effort.

In addition to the idea of ​​sustainability, the reputation of logistics is also at the forefront of the "Power of Logistics" initiative - because many people associate the term "logistics" with things like traffic jams and air pollution. Therefore, according to Kuno Neumeier, it is time to bring about a rethinking in society. Feeding climate-friendly electricity from the logistics properties into the public grid would create added value for the region and could thus improve the reputation of logistics.

Autor: Boris Kretzinger