Vattenfall: First solar farm complete
Vattenfall’s first large-scale solar farm has generated power for the first time. The facility in Wales, which covers an area of about eight hectares, consists of over 18,500 panels and were installed in less than two weeks. The investment cost amounts to some SEK 50 million.
The solar farm has a capacity of 4.99MW and will annually generate 5.5GWh of electricity which is enough to provide 1,440 British homes with renewable electricity. The solar farm consists of over 18,500 panels which weigh approximately 18 kg each.
The solar farm in southwest Wales is located adjacent to Vattenfall’s Parc Cynog wind farm with its 11 turbines and shares its grid connection with the wind farm.
Project Manager Stephen Holdroyd explains that the farm is expected to be in operation for 30 years.
“By having hybrid schemes like this one which combines wind and solar you can reduce the Levelised Energy Cost (LEC) by sharing and fully utilising the grid connection. In this case the grid connection at Parc Cynog already existed.”
Facts solar photovoltaic energy
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency) the world has added more solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity since 2010 than in the previous four decades. The total global capacity exceeded 150GW in early 2014. PV system prices have been divided by three in six years in most markets, while module prices have been divided by five.
IEA has predicted that PV’s share of global electricity will reach 16% by 2050.
For more information, please contact:
Peter Stedt, press officer, +46 (0)70 597 73 38
Vattenfall’s Press Office, +46 (0)8 739 50 10, press@vattenfall.com
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