EU: The largest photovoltaic park in Europe, officially inaugurated in Germany
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Germany’s transmission network operator 50Hertz has officially inaugurated the 650 MW Witznitz PV Park, located south of Leipzig, Germany, described as the largest solar plant in Europe, according to Enerdata.
Witznitz Park was built over the past two years on the site of a former lignite quarry and covers a total area of approximately 500 hectares in the municipalities of Neukieritzsch, Böhlen and Rötha.
The facility, which produced power for the first time in December 2023, injects electricity directly at very high voltage, while also helping to maintain grid stability, Enerdata said.
The facility, located south of Leipzig in eastern Germany, thus surpassed Iberdrola’s Francisco Pizarro park, completed in 2022, considered the largest in Europe. The PV plant in Spain has a capacity of 590 MWp and a grid connection of 553 MW.
It should be noted that Turkey is home to a solar plant of 1.35 GW and 1 GW, respectively, commissioned a year ago. But this is located in Asia Minor, at Karapınar, Konya province, so it is not geographically in Europe. Also in Spain there is an 850 MW cluster consisting of 17 photovoltaic energy units.
In addition, Iberdrola is now working on a 1.2 GW project in Portugal. And a significant part of the gigantic investments in solar would be hosted by South-Eastern Europe, including in Romania, where there is a park project of over 1,000 MW under development.
The new solar park in Germany consists of ten sections and has 1.1 million panels. The first part of the project was commissioned in December. The site comprises over 500 hectares within the former Witznitz surface coal mine and 150 hectares of adjacent land. The investors said they are testing dual use on an area of more than five hectares. Known as agrivoltaic, the term represents agricultural activities and solar energy in the same place.
Shell Energy Europe signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in September 2023 to take over the production of 600 MW. Separately, it has struck a deal with Microsoft to supply it with 323 MW of output.
With the aim of mitigating the social and environmental impact, Hansainvest and Move On built 13 kilometers of cycling and hiking trails in total, with hedges along the fences of the photovoltaic installation, plus forest areas on 13 hectares.
At the end of 2023, solar energy accounted for about 33% of Germany’s installed capacity at over 81 GW, but contributed only about 12% of Germany’s energy production at 61 TWh.
