BLOG: Energetica modules in practical use – At Hartstahl Service GmbH, Villach

“An investment in photovoltaics is also very attractive from a business point of view,” says Hubert Wimmer, Managing Director of Hartstahl Service GmbH. “You can easily assume an interest rate of eight percent, and even if such an investment has to be financed by credit, the investment remains very attractive with such a return”.

The decision to invest in a 200 KWpeak PV system at the company’s Villach location was therefore not a purely ecological one for Wimmer even back then: “I thought the idea was cool. The roof was there, and so was the necessary capital. So we started the project,” Wimmer summarizes his motivations at the time with a wink. “You can easily earn money with photovoltaics, it is booming and we in Carinthia are ultimately blessed with lots of sunshine.”

Around 660 Energetica e.Basic P PV modules were installed on a roof area of approx. 1100 m2. The inverters come from Fronius.

The 200 kW system was connected to the grid in December 2019. Originally, Wimmer had calculated the production of his system at 160,000 kWh, because the modules on the north side of the hall were not installed for optical reasons. Expected return on investment was at 11 years.

But in practice, the Energetica modules showed their full strength: “By the end of October 2020 the system had achieved 208,000 kW and I suspect that 220,000 kW will be achieved by the end of the year“; Wimmer continues: “Due to the significantly better efficiency, the system produces more than planned and I am therefore very satisfied with my investment. It performs flawlessly and I decided to extended the system by another 200 panels (60 kW) for personal use.”

According to Wimmer, the investment in the high-quality Energetica modules produced in Austria has clearly paid off beyond expectations.

Wimmer continues: “I hold high respect for Energetica Industries in Liebenfels. You can see that Energetica is not only on state-of-the-art level but beyond. I decided to pay a higher price for local top technology, so that the money stays in Austria. If you hold the higher initial price in relation to the fast ROI, the investment certainly pays off.”

The real-life performance of Energetica intelligent modules in the field prove them to be a prudent investment by producing, in this case, more than 30% above expectations.

About Hartstahl Service GmbH, Villach

Hartstahl Service GmbH in Villach is the general importer of excavator buckets for the German Lehnhoff Hartstahl GmbH and has been established on the Austrian market for around 50 years.

Wimmer also builds and repairs spare parts for construction machinery (shovels for excavators, spare parts for wheel loaders, etc.) of various large construction and industrial companies. Around half of sales are made with spare parts for tunnel milling machines for the tunnel construction sites (Brenner, Semmering, Koralm & Karawanken tunnels). Between 10 and 13 people are employed at the Villach site.