A 605 megawatt (MW) project in Germany has claimed the title of Europe’s largest solar farm, bumping a PV plant in Spain out of the top spot.
The Witznitz Solar Farm near Leipzig, which is not state-subsidized, is owned by German investment firm HANSAINVEST Real Assets. It’s been continuously online since the end of March.
MoveOn Energy, the solar farm’s developer, will install a further 45 MW of power on its own behalf and connect that to the grid by summer 2024. From that point the solar farm will feature more than 1.1 million modules.
It sits on over 500 hectares (1230 acres) of the former Witznitz II open-cast brown coal mine. It will produce enough clean electricity to power around 200,000 households and avoid around 250,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Last year, a long-term power purchase agreement for around 600 MW of Witznitz’s clean energy was agreed with Shell Energy Europe.
Cycle paths have been created around Witznitz Solar Farm, and HANSAINVEST said in a statement that it’s initially making available up to 10 hectares (25 acres) for agrivoltaics.
The solar farm in Spain that has now been shifted to the No. 2 slot is the 500 MW Núñez de Balboa project in the Extremadura region.
