The Waldpolenz Solar Park is a 52-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

(MW)

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

built by German developer and operator

Juwi The Juwi GmbH is a company which builds renewable power supply facilities. Founded by Fred Jung and Matthias Willenbacher in 1996, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The today's headquarters is in Wörrstadt. The name "juwi" is an acronym based o ...

at a former military air base near

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Eastern Germany The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990. The new st ...

. When completed by the end of 2008, it was the world's largest

thin-film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

solar park using CdTe-modules. Initially, the

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

plant's

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,

was 40 MW, consisting of 500,000 state-of-the-art

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

provided by U.S. manufacturer

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...

, and generated 40,000 MWh of electricity per year.Building Approval Granted for 40 MW Photovoltaic Project
/ref> The solar park was then extended with another 153,650 panels, also provided by First Solar, to a final capacity of 52 MW_P in 2011 The installation is located in the Muldentalkreis district in the state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

in eastern Germany, built on half of the location's in the townships of

Brandis Brandis () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 16 km east of Leipzig. Born in Brandis * Karl Bock (1922-2004), physician in the field of pediatric cardiology * Anneliese Zänsler (born 1927), opera and op ...

and

Bennewitz Bennewitz is a municipality in the Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany. History Today Bennewitz is a cluster of several villages administered by Bennewitz village. The main village of Bennewitz is one of the oldest settlements in the Mulde-va ...

.eXenewable Project Profile Page - Waldpolenz, PV, Germany
/ref> The investment costs for the Waldpolenz solar park have amounted to some 130 million euro.

References

Photovoltaic power stations in Germany {{Germany-powerstation-stub

See also

References