New German Five Megawatt Project Moves Up Solar Power Parameters

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). It was less than a year ago, when we were marking the high stepping advances in power output from the latest windpower turbine rotors at the top end of that form of renewable energy. Suddenly, after becoming accustomed to turbines with 0.5 megawatts (MW) - 1.5 MW outputs, prototypes that could produce 4.5 MW were fast moving towards the commercial production stage, and thus moving perceptions of power engineers and utility managers alike.

So, it is now with solar energy, where installations have mostly been rated in standalone kW and a one MW output was at the high end. Now, the German project developer GEOSOL, with Shell Solar, a part of Shell Renewables (LSE:SHL) (London, UK), as the prime construction contractor, has launched a project that will see a solar power station producing five MW by July of this year.

The freestanding array will be comprised of some 33,500 solar modules and will put out enough power to meet the needs of 1,800 German households. The plant will be built on a former lignite mine ash deposit at Espenhain near Liepzig. Power will be fed into the local grid and is rated to save around 3,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

High performance PV (photovoltaic) modules of the new Shell SQ series will be used for the first time in the Espenhaim project. The modules are capable of handling high-voltage and deliver highest energy yields. Siemens AG is supplying the inverters, the transformers and the medium voltage connection equipment.

Shell Solar claims to have supplied solar cells globally with a total peak capacity in excess of 350 MW which is around 20% of the world's installed capacity. The company continues to claim the world's largest rooftop solar power installation with the 2.1 MW output from the PV roof panels on the Munich Trade Fair Centre. The new Espenhain project could claim to supply something over 0.25% of the world's solar generated energy. The installation statistics in this paragraph are destined to move dramatically upwards in the next five years as new PV production facilities worldwide boost their individual annual production to capacities through 50 MW to 100 MW.

Germany ranks second after Japan in terms of currently installed solar generating capacity.