Windpower, the Regensburg-based developer and operator of green energy plants, has started construction of a new solar project together with the project developer Iqony Solar Energy Solutions (SENS). On an area of 15 hectares in Berching-Altmannsdorf in the district of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate, the project partners' craftsmen are installing a total of around 33,000 solar modules. Together they have an output of 20 megawatts.
Three projects already completed
This is not the first solar project that the two companies have built together in the region. Last year, Windpower and SENS commissioned three new plants in Deining and Seubersdorf. These solar parks, located between Nuremberg and Regensburg, have a combined output of 23.5 megawatts. This means that the Berching-Altmannsdorf solar park alone is almost as large as the other three projects.
Making better use of the grid connection
In the new plant, the project partners are using bifacial modules to increase the yield. The inverters of the new solar park will feed the solar power into the existing grid of the neighbouring Berching community wind farm. This will create a solar-wind hybrid power plant. This has several advantages.
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The grid connection will be better utilised thanks to the combination. After all, the wind power and photovoltaic technologies complement each other very well. It also significantly reduces the amount of work required for cable and road construction.
Public participation possible
As with the wind farm, citizens also have the opportunity to invest in the large solar project and benefit financially from the plant's yields. As the municipality already had experience with the construction of green energy plants, the cooperation with the project planners was very good. "We are delighted to have such committed partners for the implementation of the energy transition in the municipalities in the district of Neumarkt," emphasises Johannes Ehbauer, Managing Director of Windpower. "Without the cooperation of the citizens, this expansion of renewable power plant capacities throughout the district would not have been possible."
Corrosion protection extended
However, the project planners also encountered a challenge during the construction of the new plant. The soil has very high chemical values, meaning that the conventional coating of the mounting posts of the substructure was not sufficient to protect against corrosion. Meister Solar, the supplier of the mounting system, therefore increased the usual thickness of the zinc coating from 70 to 85 micrometres in order to protect the posts against corrosion in the long term.
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This meant that a warranty of 20 years could be granted without any problems. As the posts are only driven into the ground and not set in concrete, the entire system has minimal environmental impact and can be dismantled without leaving any residue. (su/mfo)
