No monkey business: Solar provides green energy to Danish zoo

Animal welfare and protection of our environment may sound like a far cry from Solar’s core business. But it’s not – on the contrary. Taking care of our environment is everybody’s business, and eco-friendly solutions are our business. We take an active part in the green transition. So when we get to make a difference in projects where good business, green initiatives and beautiful animals go hand in hand, we smile a little bit more.

The rhinos stay safe and warm with stable heating. The monkeys do their thing under improved lighting. And the giraffes thrive in a better indoor climate because of their new ventilation system. Those are some of the very specific results from an energy renovation project providing a local zoo with solar cells, heat pumps, ventilation and lighting solutions.

And also in this case, green solutions and good business are two sides of the same coin. - The new solution will save the zoo a lot of money, says sales engineer Tom Nielsen from Solar’s climate and energy division.

A local electrician is in charge of the daily work in the zoo. Solar has played a role from the beginning, providing the products needed for the tasks.

- Solar was a great sounding board in the project. They helped us to design some of our work, and based on their input, we took care of the installation, explains electrician Jesper Mikkelsen.

Challenging tasks
In total, seven stables were equipped with new heating solutions, while new lighting was installed in six stables. To navigate in a project of this size, it is necessary to be able to see the big picture:

- We handled all sorts of tasks ranging from providing the giraffes with fresh air to setting up stable heating in the floors and radiators. So we’ve faced many individual challenges, explains Tom Nielsen from Solar.

And working with animals never gets boring:

- The gorillas are all over the place, and they are very strong, so it is easy for them to break e.g. a fixture. Therefore it is important that we put the fixtures where the gorillas can’t reach them, explains Jesper Mikkelsen.

Measuring energy savings:  
Many of the units are monitored to make sure that if something unexpected happens – e.g. the lights in one of the stables do not automatically switch to night mode – a process is initiated to correct the mistake. This measure alone is expected to result in an energy saving of three to five per cent.

In addition, they measured the power consumption before the project to provide data for comparison with the new setup.

Finally, an info screen will be set up in the park so that guests can constantly monitor the zoo’s power consumption, including how much energy their new solar cell panels produce.