The Schapfen-Mill-Tower is a tall silo tower near

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Schapfen-Mill-Tower started construction in 2004 and was completed in 2005. It was the tallest operational

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

for a time following the demolition of

Henninger Turm Henninger Turm (Henninger Tower) was a grain storage silo located in the Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt am Main), Sachsenhausen-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. It was built by Henninger Brewery (now part of the Dr. Oetker#Binding Brauerei, Binding ...

in 2013, but was surpassed in 2016 with the completion of the Swissmill Tower in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Inside the tower are 30 cells inside which about 8,000

metric tons The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United States ...

of grain can be stored. The intake capacity is 120 tonnes per hour. The facade on the south side is equipped with a

photovoltaic system A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and co ...

consisting of 1300 CIS solar modules, which produces about 70,000 kWh of electricity annually. However, due to the vertical mounting, the plant yields only about 70 percent of the theoretically possible yield.

References

External links

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Official Website
Towers in Germany Buildings and structures in Baden-Württemberg {{BadenWürttemberg-struct-stub