German Utility EnBW Building two Subsidy-Free Solar Projects Worth 300 MW

PC: Pattern Energy

German Utility EnBW is building two more subsidy-free large-scale solar projects in Brandenburg with a capacity of 150 MW each.

German Utility Energie Baden-Württemberg i.e. EnBW has announced that it is building two more subsidy-free large-scale solar photovoltaic projects in Brandenburg with a capacity of 150 megawatts (MW) each.

These new projects follow on from Germany’s largest solar park, Weesow-Willmersdorf, which EnBW has completed in Werneuchen, Brandenburg. The two new projects each occupy roughly 125 hectares and are located just under 40 kilometres away in the Märkisch-Oderland district, in Alttrebbin and Gottesgabe.

“By expanding solar energy, we can substantially advance the energy transition,” explained Thorsten Jörß, Head of Photovoltaic Project Development at EnBW, adding that an annual increase of at least 10 gigawatts of solar energy is needed in order to achieve the German target of generating 65 percent of all power from renewable sources by 2030. “The two subsidy-free solar parks in Alttrebbin and Gottesgabe will make a major contribution to the energy transition without any extra cost to consumers in the form of the surcharge under the Renewable Energy Sources Act,” Jörß continued.

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The utility expects construction to take one year. A total of 700,000 solar panels will be installed in the two parks. Arithmetically speaking, that is enough to supply around 90,000 households with green power. About 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions will be avoided each year.

The two solar parks are being built in parallel. Over 40 companies are involved in their construction. Schletter Solar is supplying the substructure. Bifacial solar panels from LONGi Solar not only capture direct solar radiation but also generate power from indirect sunlight reflected onto the rear of the panel. The central inverters are from Siemens. EnBW has also contracted a large number of local firms from Brandenburg for access roads, cabling, waste disposal, surveying, construction site environmental monitoring, agricultural services and other tasks.

EnBW is building its own substations to connect the installations to the grid. Two 110-kilovolt underground cables will run to the Metzdorf Nord substation belonging to regional grid operator e.dis.

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A year ago, the utility head announced that it was constructing its “Weesow-Willmersdorf” solar park with an installed output of 187 MW on an area covering 164 hectares. Now, the park is supplying 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.

Dirk Güsewell, Head of Generation Portfolio Development at EnBW had said at the time that “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.”