Solar Panels on Large Leuven Rooftops: 3 Roadblocks

Leuven sits comfortably in the mid-range of Flanders' central cities in terms of solar energy production: we don’t fare worse, but also no better than average. Increasing demand for electricity for electric cars and renewable heating, such as heat pumps, however, is putting pressure to produce more local, green energy. With a current capacity of almost 44 megawatts, we’re currently meeting only 40% of what we think we will need in 2030.

A lot of untapped potential

Leuven still has a lot of potential for solar panels. Especially the largest roofs offer opportunities to make big leaps in one fell swoop. Grid manager Fluvius has calculated that even if we should fully equip the 20 largest roofs in Leuven which currently do not yet have solar panels, we won’t need any grid reinforcement.

Together with energy cooperative ECoOB from Wijgmaal, Leuven 2030 has drafted an attractive offer: ECoOB installs solar panels with capital raised from shareholders and from the city of Leuven, and sells the green electricity competitively to the building owner, who after 20 years becomes the owner of the installation. This system benefits all parties involved: the building owner has no need to contribute capital of their own, the city and ECoOB's shareholders obtain a dividend, and part of the gains can even finance other breakthrough projects from the Climate City Contract, through the climate fund. "Our well-thought-out offer hasn’t quite been rewarded by the expected flood of applicants, though,” explains Nick Meynen, programme manager at Leuven 2030, “mostly because of a few unforeseen obstacles.”

Why the proposition was met with limited traction

All rooftops in one go

"The concept behind this project is that if we tackle the largest roofs first, we can make a lot of progress in a single operation," Nick continues, "but the owners of those large roofs tend to own multiple buildings in Belgium and abroad. For them, it is of no interest to start a separate project for each rooftop, or for the roof of their local Leuven site only. They often operate with Flemish or international tenders, fitting all their buildings with solar panels at once. An offer that only applies to Leuven poses an unwelcome fragmentation."

Rooftops waiting for renovation

"In addition, some roofs needed renovation before they were suitable for installing solar panels. However, such a renovation is often only possible once the future purpose of the building has been determined. Owners of buildings that were still in a reallocation or renovation process, declined our offer," says Nick Meynen.

Obtaining data can be challenging

Finally, working out a tailor-made proposal proved not always an easy task either. "Together with project partner ECoOB, we worked out a comprehensive offer where the building owner has to do almost nothing at all, not even contribute any capital," Nick cites. "But to work out a good proposal, ECoOB did need some basic data from the building owner beforehand, such as detailed consumption data from the last 3 years, and the details of the meter box. Sometimes there proved to be no time or capacity available to look these up. Of course, a certain level of willingness is always needed to engage in this process."

Next steps

"If the owners of the largest rooftops decide to install solar panels as part of a Flemish or international strategy for their buildings - of course we applaud that,” says Nick Meynen, “But for now, we will continue this project in modified form and proactively explore other paths, too. For example, we extended our target audience to all Leuven companies and organisations with a rooftop larger than 200 m², and successfully so: one building owner is joining our project, and two are currently considering it.”

“ECoOB, the city and Leuven 2030 are also working on an initiative whereby Leuven residents could sign up together to, for example, a group purchase, which would use a similar pre-financing system, i.e. solar panels without having to contribute their own capital. A lot of small rooftops together, make a big surface too.”

"It is not the case that solar panels are not interesting outside of this offer," concludes Nick Meynen, "prices are currently low, and the benefits are well known. Many organisations and companies are finding their own way towards installing solar panels."

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Does your organisation or company have a rooftop of more than 200 m², without solar panels? Feel free to contact Nick.Meynen@leuven2030. Your company or organisation does not need to be the owner of the rooftop.