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Voltwerk builds Germany's biggest solar plant

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GERMANY: August 16, 2001

 

 

FRANKFURT - German renewable energy firm voltwerk AG said this week it would

start building the country's biggest open-space solar power plant in Soechtenau,

Bavaria at the end of August.

 

 

Voltwerk is a subsidiary of Conergy AG, one of Europe's leading suppliers of

solar energy.

The 600 kilowatt unit, will be linked to the Isar-Amperwerke power grid from

November.

 

Soctenau is one of the sunniest regions in Germany and is thus " an ideal

location for a particularly efficient community solar plant, " said Martin

Bucher, head of voltwerk AG, in a statement.

 

The plant will produce around 600,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of power a year,

equivalent to a quarter of the electricity demand of 2,500 households in

Soechtenau.

 

The firms benefits from Germany's Renewable Energy Law (EEG), according to which

energy suppliers have to pay solar power generators a surcharge of 99 pfennigs

per kWh of solar-generated electricity that is fed into the grid.

 

" Investment in solar energy is at present as attractive as never before, " the

statement said, adding that the new plant will yield around 590,000 marks a year

from the surcharge.

 

Operation of the plant will cut emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide

by around 600 tonnes a year, the firm said.

 

" Citizens can buy a share in the community plant for as little as 10,000 marks

(and) additional payments are not necessary, " Bucher said.

 

The firms is offering investors a pre-tax yield of 6.32 percent and a dividend

of around 12.1 percent a year, for over 20 years.

 

Limited investors have reduced risk in that they are not liable to pay more than

their initial share purchase should a company go bankrupt.

 

Voltwerk is using credit from the government for the construction of the plant,

as part of the national climate protection programme's so-called " 100,000 roofs "

solar plan.

 

Hamburg-based SunTechnics Solartechnik GmbH will construct the plant.

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE