If you’re a fan of green technologies and e-mobility you might be interested in a little trip to Hungary. Just 12 kilometres south of the central business district, on the western side of Danube River, there is Prologis Park Budapest – Harbor, a state-of-the-art logistics centre. It was created by Prologis, Inc., a leading multinational logistics real estate investment trust. The centre consists of ten buildings with more than 132,000 square meters of industrial space, including a recreational area and a biological wastewater treatment plant.
Recently, Prologis has teamed up with Platio, a Hungarian start-up which created an outdoor energy-producing modular paving system, to make Prologis Park Budapest – Harbor even greener! They covered 4.7 square metres with solar cells which power an electric car charging station, or when no vehicles are using it, a nearby office building. Its peak capacity is 720W in full sunlight.
László Kemenes, the senior vice president and country manager at Prologis Hungary emphasises the company’s ecological strategy: “We already use numerous green technologies in our logistics buildings and keeping an eye on further innovation we take special care to trial potential future technologies like this renewable energy source from Platio.”
Platio seemed like an obvious choice – unlike other renewable energy technologies, their system is aesthetic and super space-saving. Since no special foundation is required, it’s easy to install and maintain. Thanks to its modularity, you can easily replace or upgrade the system with new smart functions. As if that wasn’t enough, the solar cells are made of recycled plastic.
Platio is equally happy with this solution – Prologis Park Budapest-Harbor is the first logistics centre using this technology but it certainly won’t be the last!
“It is important for us to find key partners who support innovative technologies and can give us the opportunity to try out new applications,” said Miklós Illyés, co-founder of Platio. “With the help of Prologis, we have managed to install our first system for electric vehicle charging stations, which is a significant milestone for us and part of our mission to contribute to e-mobility.”
We’re looking forward to seeing Platio’s pavements in more places, making our cities greener and smarter!
