The municipality of Niederanven has seen a veritable boom in photovoltaic systems (PV systems) installations as the municipality wants to become a forerunner in the fight against climate change.

Solar-Boom an der Gemeng Nidderaanwen (1) / Reportage Dany Rasqué

The municipality led by the CSV and déi Gréng (the Greens) has agreed to grant an additional subsidy on top of the existing subsidy granted by the State for installing solar panels, brings costs even further down for residents.

Residents applying for the State subsidy before the end of June can have their PV installation costs subsidised by 62.5 percent, if the electricity is used for personal consumption. But residents in Niederanven only have to pay 6.25 percent of the total costs out of their own pockets, which has led to a significant increase in demand for PV system installations. 
According to CSV mayor Fred Ternes, within 10 months, the municipality received a whopping 144 applications. This is 1.5x more than the total number of applications received in the past decade. On top of that, residents do not need to request any municipal building permits, Ternes explains:

"We receive applications from solar panel firms as they are not sure of the regulations within each and every municipality. We answer within two to three days whether or not the municipality is opposed to the installation and we congratulate the residents who took the step to switch to solar panels. And that's all they really need from us."

For the mayor, the key is to not add too many administrational hurdles for residents to switch over. In fact, Niederanven has taken a step further. Ternes says:

"Instead of requiring permit requests for PV installations, we have decided that at least 50% of the roofs of any new construction projects need to be installed with solar panels. If in some circumstances people are able to prove that this is not possible or that it makes no sense to do so, only then can we make exceptions. We have turned the tables in a way: before you would have to ask for our permission to install PVs, now you have to prove why you can't install them."

The municipality of Niederanven has set a goal of making household energy consumption climate neutral by 2030.

The burden should not just be on households.

Solar-Boom an der Gemeng Nidderaanwen (2) / Reportage Dany Rasqué

For Mayor Fred Ternes, it is important that the municipality leads by example:

"The municipality has installed solar panels of 240 kilowatts peak at the retirement village CIPA Gréngewald, which will be connected to the grid in the next two weeks. Currently, we are installing some at the syndicate of the Syrdall swimming pool. At CIPA, we are working in cooperation with the energy cooperative Syrdall, an energy cooperative that was founded with four other municipalities. Basically, we simply provide them with the roof, courtesy of the municipality, for a symbolic euro, and then they invest in the panels."

Mayor Ternes is convinced that this is something any municipality can implement.

The Niederanven town hall building is also greatly expanding its solar panel installations, according to the Greens councillor Josselijn de Vries, in addition to a big project called 'Am Sand':

"There's a lot of renovation and new construction happening there, and we'll be extending the structure that's already in the building out over the parking lot. This will include carports, with photovoltaic panels of 500 kilowatts peak on top."

It's a busy and exciting time for the municipality of Niederanven, and the mayor and his councillor are proud that even larger municipalities are taking inspiration from their projects.