The SNCB (national railway company of Belgium) has installed 1,886 photovoltaic panels on three of its buildings in Schaerbeek (the museum "Train World", a train maintenance workshop and an administrative building), announced the railway company on Friday. With a total capacity of 518 kWp, these panels will produce 500,000 kWh of electricity per year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of about 140 households. "This new equipment makes it possible to quadruple the number of photovoltaic panels on the roofs of the buildings of the SNCB", the latter said in a statement.
The installation of the panels is the result of a collaboration between the SNCB and a third-party investor. Specifically, the SNCB will make the roofs of these three buildings available to the Orka society for 10 years. Orka made the investment possible and will operate and maintain the three facilities. In return, the company will benefit from green certificates. For its part, the SNCB will benefit from green electricity with attractive conditions and will ultimately become the owner of the installation after 10 years. The photovoltaic panels should then produce electricity for another 10 to 15 years, says the SNCB.
The railway company does not intend to stop there and plans to launch a second call for tenders to equip the maintenance station of Forest with photovoltaic panels. In this case, the installation is aimed at producing a power output of 1,000 kWp, i.e. nearly double that of the installations in Schaerbeek.
The Brussels Times
