Toshiba Corp. says it will enter the photovoltaic solar power business in Germany with a new on-site consumption model for apartment buildings. The company says it is responding to rising electricity rates in the region with an on-site consumption model that will operate independently of the feed-in tariff system.
Toshiba says it plans to launch the business in March 2014, installing systems in apartment buildings in Villingen-Schwenningen and Ostfildern, in Baden-Wuerttemberg, operated by real estate company GAGFAH. The systems will be funded and owned by a group of pension funds.Â
The German branch of U.K.-based Toshiba International Europe (TIL) will install Toshiba's PV systems in family apartments owned by GAGFAH, and operate and manage them. TIL will purchase the generated power from the pension funds and sell it to the apartment buildings' residents at a lower rate than that charged by electric utilities. When the PV system is not operational, on cloudy days and at night, TIL will purchase electricity in the wholesale market and sell it to residents at the same rate as electricity from the solar power system.
Toshiba will initially install 3 MW solar power systems serving 750 apartments and plans to install over 100 MW in Germany by 2016. Going forward, the company says it will also install stationary batteries and integrate a micro energy management system with the goal of developing a self-sufficient model for on-site consumption that delivers solar-power electricity day and night.
