Background
Värmdö Church, formerly called St. Erik’s and St. Olof’s Church, with its rough-hewn gray stone walls, is the only medieval church in the Stockholm archipelago – “the cathedral of the archipelago”. A little way from the church on the hill is the bell tower, which has stood as a landmark over the centuries. The current bell tower was erected in 1809. Putting solar panels in this historic environment is not easy, but below the belfry are the much more modern farm buildings with matching roofs.
Solution
The most optimal roof for solar cells Värmdö Church had is just behind the bell tower. There was some shading from the nearby trees when the sun is a little lower, so here solar panels with built-in optimization from Maxim were chosen to get the best possible effect.
Result
Despite relatively few roofs on which to install the panels, solar energy currently accounts for one fifth of the Church’s total annual electricity consumption.
