German company DEGERenergie has just opened its third solar park on a former landfill site.
The new park, in Rexingen, Kreis Freudenstadt, joins established parks in Heiligenfeld and Oberiflingen. Enough power will be generated to cover the energy needs of the entire town.
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In total 190 kWp are installed on 1.5 hectares. Fifty four TOPtraker 8.5 single-axis tracking systems with a maximum module surface of 8.5 m² and 12 DEGERtraker 7000 NT two-axis tracking systems with a maximum module area of 60 m² have been set up.
In his opening speech, Artur Deger, director of DEGERenergie, said: “The Rexinger solar park should generate about 300 MWh of power per year. An electric car the size of a VW Golf can drive about three million kilometres with this much energy.”
Due to the patented sensor controller of the solar tracking systems, yields up to 45 per cent higher can be achieved relative to systems with fixed installation. Ten years ago, Artur Deger installed one of his first tracking systems in Hagen’s yard. The fixed-installation modules on his roof allow precise comparisons to be made and confirm this increased yield
Herr Deger’s business ideas arose in a garage at a small site in Kreis Freudenstadt. From this grew an international operation with a sales volume of approximately 40 million euros for 2008. About 90 per cent of this volume is generated in the export business.
German firms wanting to build solar parks are often hampered by stringent planning laws and, in contrast to wind power systems, they are not classified as privileged. Although the DEGERtrakers visually fit very well into the landscape and the plot of land could also be used as a sheep pasture, the solar systems may not be set up on any “open countryside.” Under building laws, only commercial areas are normally considered as locations. However, in Germany most property prices are too high for the investors. Due to these limitations, a suitable location to realise the planned demonstration system was sought together with the mayor’s office of Horb and the district office of Freudenstadt.
A solution was found and resulted in a structural modification of the foundation, and before the beginning of construction only an arrangement with the resident model flyers had to be made. DEGERenergie can now present additional demonstration systems to investors from around the world.
