Heritage mill in Leffinge, Middelkerke

Goal

Deploy solar energy on a historical site.

An old heritage mill in Middelkerke produces renewable energy

Description

28 PV panels on the shed of the ‘Groenhage’ heritage mill in Leffinge (Middelkerke) produce enough renewable energy to cover the needs of the site itself and part of the neighbourhood. The miller’s house was renovated and became a community centre for small social and/or cultural events and gatherings. This centre can now use the sustainable energy from the adjacent stable.

If not all the renewable energy produced is consumed, it can be used for charging points for electric vehicles or bicycles or even street lighting. For the latter, the municipality is in negotiations with Fluvius, the electric distribution system organisation, who is also responsible for public lighting.

An initial monitoring report shows that connecting public lighting is not going to be easy. The project is too small-scale for this and the costs of opening the street’s pavement do not outweigh the potential benefit. Providing a charging station is possible, but then only one third of the charging station will work on renewable energy.

The municipality of Middelkerke is now looking at the option to start up a system with battery charging. With this, the municipality wishes to provide the lifeguard station with electricity in the summer and to provide the public broadcasting system with power. The public broadcasting system or lifeguard stations are no longer feasible within the time period of the solarise project.