The Game-Changing Potential Of Balcony Solar

The Game-Changing Potential Of Balcony Solar

The Game-Changing Potential Of Balcony Solar T he sun was shining brightly one August morning in Möckernkiez, a minimalist housing complex beside the leafy Gleisdreieck Park in central Berlin. Inaugurated in 2018, the innovative, cooperative-run estate is a model of green living. More than 3,000 residents across 471 apartments in the car-free district receive heat and electricity via clean energy such as biogas and rooftop solar. And two years ago, the residents received a novel boost to their green energy supply when 70 solar panels were installed on their balconies. Today, the panels are dotted all across building façades, hanging beside plants and racks of drying clothes. “It was the wish of several residents,” says Bernhard Drechsel, technical director at Möckernkiez . “They came together and proposed this. They wanted to make an extra individual effort.” In doing so, the residents joined the ranks of what are today more than a million people across Germany who have installed balkonkraft…