"It has really paid off," says Christer Edstrand.
In the spring of 2018, talks with SBP about building a solar cell plant began. Now, just over three and a half years later, Stockholm-based real estate company Väderholmen has a total of approximately 2500 square meters of solar cell space with a total power of just over 460 kilowatts.
On October 21, the staff were able to look at the visualization screen at the head office in Västberga and see the figures ticking over towards a milestone in their own sustainability vision – they had reached one million kilowatt hours of self-produced solar electricity.
"It feels good, it has really paid off, I have to say. If we had larger roofs, we would put up even more," says Christer Edstrand, technical manager at Väderholmen.
For a long time, Stockholm-based real estate company Väderholmen had been looking for ways to energy optimize its properties. The own head office is located in a 1970s building in Västberga and drew a lot of electricity, where among other things the windows were identified as an energy villain.
Then they started looking towards producing their own electricity.
"Saving energy in old houses is really not easy and we have many cooling machines that draw a lot of electricity. Producing electricity using solar energy has been important to us because we have a great responsibility in the role of landlord. Most tenants have sustainable energy as a requirement today and we see it as a must for the future. It feels like we have really succeeded with the solar cells and this also meant that we started offering electric car charging to our tenants," he says.
"The facilities show that Väderholmen is serious"
When they searched for a supplier of solar energy, Christer Edstrand met a handful of actors and eventually became a sustainable business partner. Now four plants have been built with premium quality components and high safety awareness in the technology choices. Alexander Backström has been project manager for the facilities and praises Väderholmen's sustainability commitment.
"They have shown over the years that they have really invested in switching to green energy. They made four plants close to each other and it shows that they are serious about wanting to change sustainably and that they should become more self-sufficient," he says.
For Christer Edstrand, it is the monitoring services and service agreements SBP stands for that make up the feeling that the facilities are completely self-sustaining.
"We chose SBP as a supplier because it felt like the most honest and genuine player. I then told my superiors that 'I believe in them here 100%' and I really have not regretted that for a second. SBP has delivered exactly as it has been said and flowed on without problems during all the projects. With the help of surveillance services, I don't have to do much, Alexander is in full control and it feels safe.
So Alexander and SBP get high marks?
Yes, five out of five inverters!
Further looking for more sustainable opportunities
Now a milestone has been reached, but work for greener properties continues. Solar energy has allowed tenants to charge their electric cars and they continue to review the possibilities of installing more plants in the future, with the same intensity as before.
"We are constantly looking at how we can streamline our properties, saving electricity has become an important must here in Sweden. We continue to work to install even more solar cells and hope that our tenants can benefit from even more sustainable energy," concludes Christer Edstrand.
6 quick with
ANDREAS DUFVA, Technical Manager at Väderholmen.
Congratulations on the milestone! How and why is it important to you?
"For every kilowatt hour purchased that we can generate ourselves, we contribute to two things: on the one hand, it is a cost we do not have to and, on the other hand, we do not have to buy electricity from any operator where we cannot fully know where it comes from in terms of sustainability.
What does sustainability mean for you at Väderholmen?
"Sustainability for us is to protect the environment for tomorrow's generation. We want to work actively with sustainability in most of what we do.
Do you work sustainably in other ways than just energy?
"No more than the usual purely private, such as sorting, thinking about paper use and water consumption, etc. We have strong commitment and this is something we employees have to think about all the time.
What makes you as an employee at Väderholmen extra proud from a sustainability perspective?
"That we can also contribute. Even if we are not on a par with the largest companies, we can also do something for the environment.
What do you, or your personal, vision for the future look like for Väderholmen?
"Of course, we want to expand the solar stock and generate more solar energy. Then we will also look at other forms such as air heat pumps and other things in the future. Actually everything that feels interesting, he says and continues:
"In addition, there is currently a phasing-out of equipment such as petrol-powered hedge trimmers and the like, and will slowly but surely be replaced with electric equipment. The hope is that we can use our sustainable energy for this. We go for electricity most of the time and take one thing at a time.
Finally- when will you reach your next green milestone?
"What we have achieved today has taken a couple of years. But if we can peel away maybe 75 percent of the time using the experience we have today to reach two million, that would be a good thing!
Do you want to know more about renewable energy and its benefits? Read more about solar energy here.
