Largest German floating solar power plant inaugurated
Germany's largest floating photovoltaic system produces electricity in Baden-Württemberg. The record will soon be moving to Lower Lusatia.
There are breakwaters to the south and west of the floating PV. Nesting aids for great crested grebes can be installed on them.
(Image: O&L Nexentury GmbH)
The largest and most powerful photovoltaic system of its kind is floating on Lake Philippsee in Bad Schönborn, 20 km south of Heidelberg. According to the operator Nexentury, the 27,160 solar modules with an installed output of 15 megawatts cover an area of 8 hectares on a floating substructure. Around 16 million kWh of electricity is to be produced there every year. The electricity supplies a gravel plant owned by Philipp & Co KG on the quarry pond, and any energy not required is fed into the public grid.
The plant has been generating electricity since the beginning of August this year and has now been inaugurated by Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens). "For the energy transition to succeed, we need to exploit all available potential. This also includes floating photovoltaic systems," he said.
Consideration for the environment
In Baden-Württemberg, there are already floating solar modules on a quarry pond in Renchen in the Ortenau district and also in Ostrach (Sigmaringen district). Gravel works, which require a lot of electricity, are often operated on quarry ponds. Such lakes are considered suitable for operating large floating photovoltaic systems. They also conserve land areas.
According to the press release, experts in ichthyology, limnology and ornithology were consulted for the project on Lake Philip to ensure that there would be no negative impact on the ecosystem. Philipp & Co KG is the owner of Lake Philip and of expansion areas for gravel extraction for the next 25 to 30 years. As the excavation rights correspond to the average useful life of a photovoltaic system, approval procedures could be accelerated.
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In Lower Lusatia, a floating photovoltaic plant (floating PV, FPV) with an area of 16 hectares is to produce around 29 MW of electricity on the Cottbus Baltic Sea in future. The installation of the 51,000 solar modules was recently completed. In addition, 88 inverters, eight transformer stations and two medium-voltage systems were installed, and now electricity and fiber optic cables are being laid under the lake bed. The world's largest floating solar power plant in the Chinese province of Shandong, a good 300 km south of Beijing, is located on a reservoir and has an output of 320 MW.
(anw)
