PV plant to be located at old military training area

BRANDENBURG, GERMANY - In a few months, Germany's biggest photovoltaic power plant will become operational. At the moment, two-thirds of the panels have been installed. The German renewable energy company Juwi is constructing the 53-megawatt (MW) solar park at a former military training area in the county of Brandenburg.

The 700,000 panels will occupy an area of 162 hectares. The modules, which use thin-film technology, were produced by First Solar in Frankfurt/Oder. Completion is set for December.

The solar park has an investment cost of more than $228 million. A German bank consortium provided the outside capital, which accounts for about 80% of the investment volume. Outside capital is refinanced in turn through two development banks. Juwi and First Solar are financing the equity capital through mezzanine loans. After completion, the photovoltaic park will be sold to an investor.

The Lieberose power plant represents a model project for the renaturalization of military land burdened with munitions. Before starting the installation of the panels, Juwi had to remove munitions and other contaminations from the grounds. The plant is expected to be operational for 20 years. After this period, First Solar takes back the modules to recycle them free of charge.

The new solar power plant is located between Lieberose and Turnow-Preilack, in the district of Spree-Neisse in Brandenburg. The government of Brandenburg plans to approve various solar park projects in the next few years to re-naturalize former military training areas. With 27,000 hectares, Lieberose was the biggest military training area of the German Democratic Republic.