Voltwerk AG will build world’s biggest solar energy parks with thin film technology
Voltwerk fires the starting pistol for a solar energy park with thin film technology
– One of the world’s biggest solar energy parks with thin film technology
– Investment volume amounting to around EUR 7 million
Hamburg, 07.June 2006:
Source: Voltwerk AG (http://www.voltwerk.de/en/)
Voltwerk AG of Hamburg has commissioned SunTechnics GmbH to build one of the world’s biggest solar energy parks with thin film technology. In the Bavarian town of Mering, to the south of Augsburg, the company will be installing by this summer, on an area of five hectares, solar modules with a total power output of 1.7 megawatts. The solar power plant, costing a total of around EUR 7 million, will then produce around 1.9 million kilowatt hours of solar power every year, and feed it into the national grid. Over 500 households could thus be provided with eco-friendly electricity all year round. With its 1,250 kilowatt hours of sunlight per square meter per year, the location offers ideal conditions for the exploitation of solar energy.
“Mering is in one of the sunniest regions in Germany. We are delighted that in the new solar energy park we are now also exploiting these favorable conditions for the purpose of power generation, and thus contributing to a rising proportion of electricity from regional sources,” explains Hans-Dieter Kandler, the Mayor of Mering.
Thin film technology is considered to be a promising supplement to conventional, silicon-based modules. A growing proportion of solar power installations are already being constructed using this technology, as a result of its resource-saving production process. Solar modules based on thin film technology generate more energy, particularly on cloudy days and at dawn and dusk. They also deliver better results than silicon modules at high temperatures. At times when there is a shortage of silicon, availability is an important argument for the use of thin film modules. “The use of thin film technology enables us to meet the high demand for lucrative capital in-vestments in the field of solar energy, and additionally to increase our project volumes,” explains Nikolaus Krane, CEO of voltwerk AG. In the case of thin film modules the material is vacuum metallized onto glass in a thin film, with the result that the solar-active film makes up only one percent of the finished module.