Solar from brown field
SRU Solar AG from Berga and Berlin-based Parabel AG have built one of the region's largest photovoltaic plants between the German cities of Eisleben and Wimmelburg. The solar farm with a nominal output of 29.1 megawatts (MW) was built on the 100 hectare site of the former Krughuette metallurgy works. The electricity generated by the plant more or less covers the requirements of the city of Eisleben and could supply some 7,500 four-person households with renewable energy, avoiding 17 million tons of harmful carbon emissions per year. The plant, a EUR 40 million investment, was guaranteed to be operational by September 30, 2012. The total investment is about 40 million euros.
"After the initial uncertainties caused by the reduced subsidisation, we are happy that we finally were able to realise this project," said Thomas Rakow, CEO of SRU Solar AG. "We owe much of this success to the support provided by the cities of Eisleben and Wimmelburg." The solar farm is the largest realised by the company to date and is not a conventional open-field plant. Between 1870 and 1972, copper ores were mined on the former smelting site, which was demolished in the 1980s. Besides differences in height of 80 to 100 metres, the hard and brittle rocks made the ramming and drilling work even more difficult. "This was quite a challenge, which required extensive clean-up work prior to the actual construction," said Thomas Rakow. "But the solar farm makes it possible to combine the clean-up and the efficient use of an old industrial site in a meaningful way."
To ensure punctual completion of the plant and the feed-in of electricity at the currently applicable tariffs, SRU Solar teamed up with Parabel AG from Berlin. Both companies were equally responsible for planning and realisation. "We are pleased that SRU Solar relied on our expertise in the realisation of open-field solar plants and that we were able to jointly put such a highly exciting project into practice," said Juergen Will, CEO of Parabel AG. The plant uses over 121,000 polycrystalline modules made by Trina. Some 1,400 inverters supplied by Siemens and Danfoss ensure efficient conversion into alternating current.
The two companies emphasised that solar electricity generation remains a worthwhile investment, which cuts costs in the long term. The price of electricity at the electricity exchange has declined sharply in 2012 not least thanks to the strong increase in the number of photovoltaic plants. The hotly debated increase in the EEG apportionment is only partly attributable to the higher amount of electricity fed in by renewable energy plants. According to a study carried out by Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energien e.V. (Federal Renewable Energy Association) in September 2012, the share of the subsidisation costs in the apportionment for renewables will increase by only just under 0.2 cents/kWh in 2013.
