You have to look up to see the ambitious project that the engineering teams at St. Katharinen have just completed. The 4,200 m2 roof of Plant 4 is covered with 1,395 solar panels. “The maximum output of our new photovoltaic system is 600 kilowatt peak (kWp) while the energy demand of our plant is around 800 kilowatt hours (kWh),” says Stefan Walter, Head of Technical Infrastructure at St. Katharinen. “Over the course of the year, we estimate that these panels will enable us to reduce our electricity consumption by 13%.” The installation is expected to generate its first kilowatt hour in May 2024. This project has required nine months by the people in charge.
“Mounting the solar panels on the roof is relatively simple,” assures Stefan. “The biggest challenge was to modernize our factory’s electrical installation, which was over 30 years old and unable to absorb the electricity produced by the panels.” Upgrading the electrical equipment was not an easy task. “We couldn’t stop the plant,” explains Electrical Engineering Technician Thorsten Henn. “So we had to work on weekends and holidays and have everything up and running again by Sunday evening when production resumed.” Now that the job is almost done, the technical team at St. Katharinen is already considering mounting solar panels on the roof of Plant 3. This installation alone could produce up to 500 kWp. These projects are part of a wider program to minimize our manufacturing footprint. Modernization of the heating and ventilation system has already reduced St. Katharinen’s gas consumption by 50,000 kWh. In October 2022, four charging stations were installed in the factory parking lot for drivers of electric or hybrid cars. Employees who wish to do so can obtain a card that allows them to recharge their vehicle batteries. Our corporate fleet also includes four electric cars, with more on the way. This initiative has been so successful that four more charging stations were installed in May 2024.
For Birkenstock, sustainability is not a marketing-driven fad, but an expression of our corporate ethos. We constantly improve processes, products, packaging and logistics. We prove this every day in our factories, especially in St. Katharinen.