Renewables News
World's biggest solar electric plant opens in Germany
Sep 1, 2006, 16:51 GMT
Arnstein, Germany - A solar electric power plant, billed by its operators as the world's biggest, went into service in the southern German state of Bavaria on Friday.
More than 1,400 movable solar modules will collect the sun's rays and harness them into energy for around 3,500 households, according to operators Solon AG.
The company has invested 70 million euros (90 million dollars) in the project, which took 15 months to complete and will have an output of 12 megawatts when fully operational.
Located on a 77-hectare field near the town of Arnstein, the plant consists of rows of movable modules which automatically tilt and rotate during the day to face the sun at all times.
This technology gets the maximum benefit from the sun's rays and enables the plant to generate up to 35 per cent more electricity than a fixed solar array, according to Solon AG spokeswoman Therese Raatz.
The area around the modules is not fenced off, allowing sheep to graze on the land and save it from erosion, Raatz said.
The plant is located in the same state as a solar park in Pocking which held the previous record as the world's biggest, providing 10 megawatts of electricity to 3,300 homes.
Germans last year invested 3.7 billion euros in solar energy, one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy along with wind power and biomass.
Solar energy accounts for less than 1 per cent of the country's energy needs, but the figure is expected to grow to more than 5 per cent by 2020, according to the German Solar Energy Association BSW.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Greek solar and hydrogen technology developer, Lion Energy, www.lionhellas.com aims to close a funding round of EUR 70.0m (USD 89.5m) by the end of 2006.
KPMG www.kpmg.com has been appointed to arrange the placement, and the company is also seeking additional investors for 100-share blocks at EUR 0.10 (USD 0.13) per share. Greek law firm, Kelemenis & Co www.kelemenis.com , is acting as legal advisors to the placement.
Lion Energy has an array of technologies which it intends to commercialise as pilot plants. These include a solar electricity generating system using low-cost polymer collectors and an electrolyte-based heat to electricity generation system, a catalyst to facilitate hydrogen production from water, a solar thermal desalination technology and the manufacture of a low-cost construction material from waste plastic.
Kostas Liapis, President and Managing Director of Lion Energy, said 'I intend to take the company public on the NASDAQ and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It's a good time - Greece brought in a new feed-in tariff of EUR 0.46 per kwh (USD 0.59) on 6 June 2006, for all renewables, and 45% Grand from EU'.
Proceeds from the placement will go towards an intense 6-year development programme, which is expected to cost EUR 30.0m (USD 38.4m). Of this, EUR 12.0m (USD 15.4m) will go to set up a component assembly factory in Northern Greece, and EUR 18.0m (USD 23.0m) will be used to develop pilot projects, beginning with a 10.0MW solar thermal plant which will sell electricity to the grid, using hydrogen as a storage mechanism to deal with intermittency. This will operate in two phases, initially a 2.0MW plant as a demonstration, and then an 8.0MW expansion.
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Vic AndersonSep 3rd, 2006 - 12:17:23
Wir haben idee!
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