North of the city of Werneuchen in the Barnim region of Brandenburg, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG is planning to construct a solar park with an output of more than 187 MW. The solar project will be the first major PV project to be realised without any EEG subsidies.
Details of the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park project
The intended site for the solar park is located in the Weesow and Willmersdorf districts of the city of Werneuchen, around 26 kilometres northeast of Berlin. It covers an area of 209 hectares, of which 164 hectares will actually be built on. The existing 10 MW solar park neighbouring the site is not included in these figures and is not part of the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park being planned by EnBW.
The site is currently used for agriculture. The project has been in development since 2009. EnBW acquired the project rights and land in 2018. When EnBW took over the project, all rights were fully transferred to the company EnBW Solarpark Weesow-Willmersdorf GmbH. The current development plan allows for a service life up to 31/12/2060.
Type and number of modules
Around 465,000 solar modules with a specific capacity of about 390 Wp will be installed. It is anticipated that the solar park will produce around 180 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually. It will thus be able to supply an aggregate of around 50,000 households with environmentally friendly energy and save 129,000 tonnes of CO₂.
Grid connection
The solar park will be connected to the 110 kV electricity grid operated by the supply company e.dis via two separate transformer stations that will be newly constructed. The connection between the transformer stations and the solar park will be via two new electricity lines that are being planned with lengths of around 4 and 7 kilometres respectively and which will be laid as underground cables.
Addressing the interests of people and the environment
EnBW will implement numerous measures to compensate for the construction of the solar park and ensure that existing habitats are retained for native animal species. There are plans to grow shrubs and Benjes hedges, plant fruit trees and develop stepping stone biotopes and grassland. The measures will be implemented as part of the ecological supervision of the construction work and their effectiveness will be monitored in the future. Herds of sheep will graze some parts of the solar park to help maintain them. The construction measures have been planned in such a way as to minimise the impact on residents.