EnBW starts building Germany’s largest solar park without state funding
Germany-based energy utility EnBW announced it is constructing its “Weesow-Willmersdorf” solar park with an installed output of 187 megawatts on an area covering 164 hectares located in Germany at around 26 kilometres northeast of Berlin in Werneuchen, Brandenburg.
The solar park will be able to supply around 50,000 households with environmentally friendly energy through its annual yield of 180 million kilowatt hours of electricity, saving about 129,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.
The entire project is due to be commissioned before the end of 2020 and the solar power plant has a planned service life of 40 years.
The electricity will be fed into three 110 kilovolt overhead cables operated by E.DIS Netz GmbH.
The around 465,000 solar modules at the park will face south, have a construction height of around three metres and will be installed at an inclination of 20 degrees to the supporting structure. They will be distributed across four solar fields, divided by the local road network which will still be publicly accessible.
Two new transformer stations will be built to the west and southwest of the park in close vicinity to the high-voltage lines.
EnBW is currently laying seven kilometres of cables to the planned transformer station to the southwest of the park in the district of Blumberg. The almost 4-kilometre long connection to the planned transformer station to the west of the park near Börnicke will be completed later.
More than 40 companies have been commissioned by EnBW to work on the construction of the solar park. During the construction phase, a total of up to 150 people will be working at the construction site at the same time.
Ecological supervision commissioned especially for this project will ensure that all construction work is completed in harmony with the local flora and fauna and especially that the “Weesower Luch” nature reserve located to the south of the solar park remains protected.
Dirk Güsewell, Head of Generation Portfolio Development at EnBW says:
“Major photovoltaic projects like this one are just what is needed to push forward renewable energies and the Energiewende in Germany. This solar park is our first renewable project without state funding. It also marks a milestone for photovoltaics in Germany and demonstrates that this technology has achieved market maturity.”
Jörg Steinbach, Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy in Brandenburg emphasises:
“Brandenburg is taking a leading role in the Energiewende because hardly any other German state has pushed forward with the expansion of renewable energies so strongly. EnBW is contributing to the achievement of our climate policy targets with projects such as the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park. The project being developed by EnBW demonstrates that renewable energies can be competitive.”
Daniel Kurth, District Administrator of the Barnim district explains:
“Climate protection and sustainability have always been given a high priority in Barnim. This is why we are even more delighted to remain a leader in the area of climate protection with the new solar park in our district.”
Source: Press Release by EnBW. Photo credit: © EnBW.
