Borealis, the Austrian provider of polyolefins, and the energy company VERBUND operate a new photovoltaic park on around 75,000 m2 at the Schwechat production site. The recently constructed solar park consists of around 10,220 individual photovoltaic modules. The PV plant will supply the Borealis site in Schwechat with electricity, bringing Borealis closer to its goal of sourcing 100 % of its power demand from renewable sources by 2030.
Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft was commissioned with the engineering services for feeding the solar energy into the plant’s 6kV power grid of Borealis. Pörner’s scope of work included authority engineering (trade, building and nature conservation authorities) and TÜV approval of the newly-built transformer station, the visualization of various plant parameters (in particular the feed-in power) of the entire plant, procurement support with factory acceptance tests, construction supervision and HSE together with Borealis and PV partner DEEA as well as the commissioning of the entire plant.
Green power generation from solar energy
The total output of the park reaches around 4.7 megawatt peak (MWp) and delivers an energy output of around 5.6 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. This is roughly equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 1,400 Austrian households. The renewable energy generated will reduce the site’s annual CO2 emissions by around 1,200 tons.
The project started in May 2022 and shortly before Christmas, on December 19, 2022, the PV plant was connected to the plant’s power grid as scheduled. At the end of February, all documentation and remaining works were also successfully completed.
Pörner Managing Director Peter Schlossnikel concludes: “We have been working for Borealis for many years and are proud to have made a contribution to the “Green Economy” in Schwechat. As a full-service plant engineering company with own technologies in this field, we feel committed to the industry’s decarbonization.”
Thomas Gangl, CEO of Borealis states: “With a total of three photovoltaic projects and several wind power sale contracts in Europe, Borealis is currently making significant progress towards its goal of sourcing 100 % of the electricity used in its own production from renewable energy sources by 2030 – underlining how Borealis is reinventing the basics to make our lives even more sustainable.”
Watch the Borealis company video with Pörner employees Alexandra Hofmann and Oskar Bacher in leading roles: https://youtu.be/5gEILd35zgU
