by Li Jizhi, Alexander James Wright
It requires hard work and ingenuity to install solar panels on the roof of a listed building while trying to preserve its original appearance and architectural beauty.
Xinhua correspondents have recently visited the market halls of the Marche des Abattoirs in the Belgian capital's southern municipality of Anderlecht to provide a first-hand account of the rollout of Europe's largest integrated solar panel installations in an urban environment.
The project involves the installation of 5,400 solar panels on the building's 10,000 square meter steel roof.
Bart Sillis, a 48-year-old Belgian entrepreneur, was aware of the challenge that lay before him when he decided to undertake the renovation of the roof.
As the general manager of the ESE Group, a Belgian company that specializes in renewable energy, he was confident in his team's capabilities and could count on the group's suppliers with whom he has established long-term cooperation.
The Abattoir complex has a history dating back to more than 130 years. Today, it is known to the local Chinese community as the "Bull Market" because of the two bronze bull statues guarding the building's monumental entrance.
Bustling with wholesalers and retailers in the weekends, the site also houses modern meat cutting and other food processing facilities.
Timed to coincide with the building's renovation, the Anderlecht Abattoir leased the roof to Brussels startup and solar power solution provider Skysun, which partnered with the ESE Group to install the rooftop solar panels.
Sillis said that under the Belgian regulations on the preservation of cultural heritage, the look and feel of the original building cannot be altered, so the design team at ESE customized a batch of special solar panels manufactured in China.
The jet black solar modules follow the arc of the roof, and the mounting system has been designed to look like a zinc roof from 100 years ago, Sillis said.
"It is a very good example of how to secure a listed building by using state-of-the-art architectural solutions," commented Paul Thielemans, director of public relations at the Anderlecht Abattoir.
The rooftop photovoltaic system is designed to have an annual installed capacity of 1,600 megawatts, according to Thielemans. He told Xinhua that the surplus electricity generated at the compound could be sold to the public in the near future.
The system became operational in December last year and is now generating enough electricity to cover the needs of the whole building. In the context of the current energy crisis in Europe, not to have to pay for electricity is an especially welcome opportunity for the complex's operator to save costs.
The European Climate Law, adopted by the European Union (EU) last year, sets a legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The massive expansion of renewable energy is an important step toward this goal.
Sillis said that the ESE Group has used high power density inverters with a capacity of two megawatts made by the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
China and the EU closely cooperate on climate change, and green energy transition is one of the important subjects in the China-EU energy dialogue.
The report of the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU for 2021 shows that after more than a decade of development, China's photovoltaic cells and modules industry has developed into a well-performing sector with affordable prices and advantages of scale, making Chinese enterprises the best choice to complement the EU industrial chain and support it in meeting its growing demand for photovoltaic products.
Sillis said he was optimistic about the potential and prospects of China-EU green cooperation. He said that a project developed with green technologies is one worth promoting as it generates greater economic value and therefore benefits the local communities.
Editor: Galia
