German utility EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) has commenced construction of the 187MW Weesow-Willmersdorf solar farm in Germany.
Located nearly 26km northeast of Berlin in Werneuchen, Brandenburg, the solar park will be equipped with 465,000 south-facing solar modules, installed across four solar fields, divided by the local road network.
EnBW stated that over 40 companies will be involved in the construction of the project, which is expected to create about 150 jobs.
The Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park will generate enough electricity to power 50,000 households
The Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park will generate 180 million KWhr of electricity each year to power approximately 50,000 homes. It will also offset nearly 129,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The solar farm is expected to begin operations before the end of this year.
EnBW generation portfolio development head Dirk Güsewell said: “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.”
The electricity generated from the solar plant will be fed into three 110kV overhead cables operated by E.DIS Netz.
Two new transformer stations will be constructed to the west and southwest of the power plant in close proximity to the high-voltage lines.
Currently, EnBW is laying seven kilometres of cables to the planned transformer station to the southwest of the park in the district of Blumberg.
The nearly four-kilometre long connection to the western transformer station near Börnicke will be accomplished later.
The company added that the solar power plant has a planned operational life of 40 years.
Brandenburg economic affairs, labour and energy minister Jörg Steinbach said: “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.”
In mid-2018, EnBW had acquired the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar project from Procon Solar at a pre-developed stage.
