The Polish arm of European real estate developer, Ghelamco, says it has been buying energy with green certificates since 2015 but this has not proved sufficient. In response, the company has taken matters into its own hands.
Its answer is to begin construction of its own photovoltaic (PV) farms, which generate electricity locally using solar power in order to supply its assets.
Ghelamco explained construction of its own PV farms was a ‘first-of-its-kind, groundbreaking project’ in the developer's ESG strategy and a significant step towards becoming totally energy neutral by 2024.
Its Warsaw UNIT will be the developer's first skyscraper to become 100% powered by such clean energy. The high-rise block is already the most ecological office building in Poland, according to the company, having among others the BREEAM certificate at the Outstanding level, the highest that can be obtained, and pre-certification from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) in the latest WELL v2 Core system.
The company said the PV farm is being constructed for it by Revolt Energy and will have a total capacity of 10 MW to cover the annual energy demand for Warsaw Unit.
By way of reference, the largest solar farms in the world can generate 2,245 MWs, according to yssolar.com. Bhadla Solar Park in India covers 14,000 acres and is the largest in the world to date, followed by Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park in China capable of delivering 2,200 MWs.
Ghelamco’s announcement comes at a time when experts have been telling PropertyEU that there will be even greater demand among real estate companies for renewable energy investment given rocketing energy prices.
‘By choosing Ghelamco's office buildings, companies which implement ESG strategies are guaranteed that their business can contribute to reducing carbon footprint,’ said Jaroslaw Zagórski, Ghelamco Poland’s commercial and development director.
On Tuesday, Amazon announced it had acquired two PV farms in New South Wales, Australia, from Canadian Solar Inc to supply 392,000 MWs annually for its local ecommerce business.
