Logistics · Venlo, Netherlands · 2025
A distribution centre that runs its night shift on the afternoon sun
Site plan
Brightwater Logistics
Venlo, Netherlands
- Solar array, 2,400 kWp
- Battery, 2,000 kWh
- Trees and planting kept
- Completed
- 2025
- Drawn by
- Lumora engineering
- System size
- 2,400 kWp
- Yearly generation
- 2,230 MWh
- Saved a year
- €431,000
- Payback
- 6.5 years
- CO₂ avoided a year
- 870 t
01The challenge
Brightwater's cross-dock in Venlo runs two shifts and a night crew, with sorters, lighting and chargers for 60 reach trucks. Its grid connection was close to full, and the network operator quoted four years for an upgrade. The roof, 46,000 m² of new sheet metal, was doing nothing.
02What we built
We laid an east-west array across almost the whole roof, which spreads production over a longer day and fits more panels than a south-facing layout. Two battery containers take the afternoon surplus and release it from 18:00, when the night shift starts and grid prices rise. The battery also holds demand below the contracted peak, so the connection never needs to grow.
03The result
In its first year the site made 2,230 MWh and used 82% of it on site. Peak demand from the grid fell by a third, the upgrade request was withdrawn and the reach-truck fleet doubled inside the same connection.
How the project ran
Assessment
February 2024
Twelve months of meter data, the roof drawings and a site visit with Brightwater's facilities team.
Design and grid
March to June 2024
East-west layout, structural sign-off, battery siting and the network operator's approval.
Installation
September 2024 to January 2025
Built in four roof zones so loading and sorting never stopped. Switch-over on a Sunday.
Monitoring
From February 2025
Every string watched from Rotterdam. Controls retuned twice as the night shift grew.
The estimate we took to the board was within four per cent of what the roof produced in its first year.
Site assessment
A site like Brightwater Logistics's? Let us look at yours.
An engineer reviews your meter data and roof, visits the site and sends a written proposal with a design, a yield model and the financing options that fit. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.