Arvato Group | Gütersloh/Gennep, 01/20/2022

Arvato SCS Takes New Solar Power Plant In Gennep Into Operation

As part of its sustainability strategy, Arvato Supply Chain Solutions in Gennep (NL) has taken into operation a solar power plant with more than 27,000 solar panels. With an output of more than 10,000 megawatt hours per year, the power plant is one of the largest roof-mounted projects in the Netherlands. It also supplies other Arvato locations with green electricity.

Arvato Supply Chain Solutions is investing heavily in environmentally friendly technologies as part of its sustainability strategy. To date, the international supply chain and e-commerce service provider has spent around €800,000 to make the logistics and distribution centers in its global network more sustainable through various measures. These include the installation of high-performance photovoltaic systems, which are currently being planned or already implemented at seven locations. Just recently, a solar power plant with 27,076 solar panels was put into operation on the company's premises in Heijen in the Dutch municipality of Gennep. This quantity makes it one of the largest roof-mounted projects in the Netherlands. It has an output of more than 10,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, covering the energy needs of around 3,300 households. What is special about this solar power plant is that the energy generated can be used not only by Arvato Supply Chain Solutions in Gennep. It also supplies green electricity to the other Arvato Supply Chain Solutions locations in the Netherlands.

Offset measures compensate unavoidable greenhouse gas generation

“With the photovoltaic plant in Gennep, Arvato Supply Chain Solutions is reducing its carbon footprint by 4,100 tons per year, which corresponds to the annual compensation of more than 416,600 trees. The plant thus makes an important contribution to the Group-wide environmental balance sheet,” explains Marcel Orth, who drove the project forward as Operations Excellence Manager at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions in the Netherlands. The goal of the entire Bertelsmann Group, which includes Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, is to be completely climate-neutral by 2030 (more information is available here). “This includes, among other things, switching 100 percent of our electricity consumption to green electricity as part of our own climate strategy and reducing site-related greenhouse gases (Scope 1+2) by 50 percent,” explains Andreas Barth, President Tech and Group Head of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions. “However, as a supply chain management and e-commerce service provider, we provide services where we cannot avoid 100 percent of greenhouse gas generation, so we will apply offset measures for the remaining 50 percent.”

Extensive sustainability measures have already been implemented at other sites as well, contributing to the achievement of climate targets. In addition to the purchase of pure green electricity and the switch to LED lighting, for example, modern heat recovery systems with compressed air compressors are used to continuously reduce gas consumption for heating. Further savings are achieved by retrofitted air filters, night-time temperature reductions within the storage areas, and the coupling of windows and air-conditioning systems, which switch off as soon as a window is opened. In addition, energy-efficient cogeneration units have been installed at individual sites, which form a transitional technology as sustainable geothermal systems. “When it comes to optimization, we look very closely at which green technologies and measures are suitable for the location and can be optimally implemented there,” says Olaf Pack, Vice President Real Estate at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions. “Because these projects not only help us achieve our climate protection goals, but also make an important contribution to promoting sustainability in the respective communities.”