Germany just staked a massive claim in solar energy by building the world’s largest photovoltaic solar park with Unlimited Energy and the Saferaycompany. Constructed in eastern Germany near the city of Senftenberg, a portion of the 166-megawatt park was recently opened by German officials. The park repurposed otherwise unusable land that was once occupied by an open-pit mine.

Saferay has opened a large portion of the new solar park that includes a 78 megwatt plant. Taking only three months to build, the plant will collect the sun’s rays with 330,000 crystalline solar modules and convert it to energy with 62 central inverter stations. The park’s massive size and quick turn around is raising the bar on solar park development, spurring other companies to follow suit.
Prior to the park, the land was left barren and unused, having been left virtually unusable from open-pit mining. Turning a piece of landruinedby industry into the world’s largest solar energy producing plant is a bold and symbolic move that makes lemonade out of lemons.
With that in mind, Unlimited Energy, the developer of the site, has a focus on preserving the land on which their solar parks are stationed. Aside from repurposing undesirable land, they have created wildlife reserves in between their solar installations and taken measures to foster local plant life.
The Saferay company has made a mark in just one short year of business, installing solar farms across Germany with efficient production time frames.
+ Saferay
+ Unlimited Energy
Via Treehugger
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