Ground-mounted photovoltaic system

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A photovoltaic open space system

An open-air photovoltaic system (also known as a solar park ) is a photovoltaic system that is not installed on a building or on a facade , but on an open area at ground level. An open-space system is a permanently installed system in which the photovoltaic modules are aligned at an optimal angle to the sun ( azimuth ) by means of a substructure .

A special form of the photovoltaic open space system is the agrophotovoltaic . Not all of the open space here is dedicated to voltaic activity. Instead, the open space is used for voltaic and agriculture at the same time. This is achieved by installing the voltaic systems so high that agricultural vehicles can drive under them. The degree of shading of the agricultural area can be determined by the ratio of the area of ​​the modules to the open area. In the course of climate change, this technology is gaining in importance, because the drying out of the soil and damage to plants can be reduced by too intensive solar radiation.

In addition to these permanently mounted open-space systems , there are also tracking systems , so-called tracker systems, which follow the position of the sun. There are also photovoltaic systems installed on floats that float on lakes (e.g. dredging holes) (# see below ).

As of 2020, solar parks in the best locations worldwide can produce electricity production costs of well below 2 US cents / kWh. In addition, the space efficiency of solar parks is comparatively high: Solar parks supply around 25 to 65 times as much electricity per unit area as energy crops .

Situation in Germany

A tracking system. The photovoltaic modules are always optimally aligned to the sun by rotating and tilting.

Market share

Measured against the overall market for photovoltaic systems in Germany, ground-level systems make up a comparatively small part: Around 2010, it was said that their share in Germany had been between 10 and 15 percent for years. In 2008, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics counted 286 ground-mounted systems with 486 megawatts on an area of ​​1,800 hectares. Later, the proportion of open-space systems increased, especially in months with high additions shortly before the feed-in tariff was reduced . In June and September 2012, for example, the majority of the newly installed PV capacity in Germany was presumably attributable to ground-mounted systems. Nationwide, around 330 MW of new PV systems with an output of over 10 MW were reported in each of these months, with smaller ground-mounted systems added. At the end of 2012, the proportion of open-space systems fell significantly again.

Since 2017, 600 MW for systems over 750 kW have been awarded annually through tenders. For the years 2019 to 2021, a further 4 GW will be awarded via special tenders ( Section 28 of the Renewable Energy Sources Act ).

compensation

Electricity from ground-mounted systems is promoted through the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The remuneration for this type of system was lower than for photovoltaic systems that are mounted on or on buildings. In 2009 the remuneration was still 31.94 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity fed in; in 2010 it fell to 28.43 cents for new systems. From January 2013 it was 11.78 cents, falling with a monthly discount of 2.5%. The amendment to the EEG 2014 stipulated that the funding amount for open-space photovoltaic systems should in future be determined in tenders by the Federal Network Agency , instead of the previous statutory feed-in tariffs. The implementation took place in the regulation for the tendering of the financial support for open space systems of February 6, 2015 (open space tender regulation). With the EEG 2017, these tenders are regulated in law. Smaller PV systems up to 750 kW p receive a statutory remuneration without tendering.

The first bid date was April 15, 2015 with a tendered quantity of 150 megawatts. The volume of the tender was oversubscribed several times. The Federal Association for Renewable Energy expressed the fear that citizens' cooperatives and facilities could be pushed out of the market because they are less able to undertake advance payments and bear fewer risks due to their lower capital strength.

Tenders are criticized because international experience and economic models suggest that the desired goals of cost efficiency, expansion goals and the diversity of actors are thereby counteracted. The pilot model for ground-mounted PV systems was intended to test the practical effect of tenders in the field of renewable energies.

In addition, as of 2019, there will be an increasing number of solar parks that are being built without government funding. These projects do not make use of any additional market premium from the EEG surcharge . In 2018, the Viessmann company built a solar park with an output of 2 MW in addition to its headquarters in Allendorf (Eder) , which is refinanced through self-consumption . In 2019, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) announced a series of large solar parks that should only pay for themselves by selling electricity on the market. Among other things, the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park will be Germany's largest solar park on an area of ​​164 hectares by 2020. The final investment decision for the 180 MW solar park was made in October 2019; EnbW indicates the costs with a high double-digit million amount. In Marlow , Energiekontor is planning to set up a solar park with an output of 80 MW on an area of ​​120 ha. The electricity generated there is purchased from EnBW via a long-term supply contract. At the airport Barth built BayWa re renewable energy uses a conveyor free PV plant with 8.8 MW, the infrastructure in the existing solar farm.

Similar projects exist for the lignite mining areas in the Rhineland and in East Germany.

Through economies of scale and synergy effects , large solar parks can reduce the levelized costs of electricity to such an extent that EEG remuneration is no longer required. The drop in prices for solar modules contributed to this.

Possible locations

In open-space photovoltaic systems, secondary uses such as B. extensive grazing is possible, for example with sheep , as shown here.

The EEG in Germany provides for the application of the tariff rates only for certain open spaces ( § 37 , § 48 EEG 2017 ):

The substructure of solar power plants usually only seals a fraction of the natural area, often less than 0.05% of the actual floor area. To an appreciation of the ecological quality contributes u. a. the space between the individual rows, which is required to counteract the shading of individual module rows when the sun is low .

Before construction begins, open-space systems usually go through an approval process in the municipality . In order to be able to use an area, it must be changed to a "Special area solar" in the zoning plan . A development plan is also required that creates building rights for the corresponding area. The municipality is responsible for the land-use planning. It examines the significance of the space and the environmental impact of the project and should include all citizens and public sector bodies (TÖB) . In addition to the size of the plant, space consumption and technology, the building owner's green space plan is an important basis for decision-making . It describes how the planned open space system is to be integrated into the landscape and how it is to be ecologically upgraded. After hearing all parties involved, the municipality approves the development plan. Then the building permit is issued .

Open spaces and environmental protection

Aerial photo of an open space system in Germany

In 2005, together with the nature conservation organization NABU , the Solar Industry Association (UVS) published a catalog of criteria for the environmentally friendly construction of ground-mounted systems. According to this, areas with previous pollution and low ecological importance should be preferred and exposed locations on easily visible hillsides should be avoided. The elevation should be designed in such a way that extensive use and care of the vegetation, e.g. B. by sheep grazing, remains possible. The use of pesticides and liquid manure should be avoided. Nature conservation associations should be included in planning at an early stage; possibly is - z. B. in IBAs  - to carry out an impact assessment. Monitoring documents the development of the ecosystem in annual inspections after the establishment. The ecological criteria formulated here go beyond the legally required minimum. This voluntary commitment should be taken into account by project planners and operators when choosing a location and operating large-scale solar systems installed at ground level.

Studies from 2013 show that solar systems make a high contribution to regional biodiversity and the installation of a solar park enables a significant ecological upgrading of the areas compared to arable or intensive grassland use. In addition to the age of the systems, the proximity to delivery biotopes , which should be less than 500 m if possible, is the decisive factor for immigration and the biodiversity of the system. In the investigation, the oldest system with the greatest diversity of biotopes in the surrounding area turned out to be the best system in terms of biological diversity. Already after a short time the extensification of agricultural cultivation led to an immigration of butterflies and an increasing diversity of plants. In addition, the respective use of the solar park is very important for ecological diversity: too much grazing has a negative effect. In particular, the areas were repopulated after a short time by some mobile animal species such as butterflies. In four of the five investigated solar parks, the biodiversity of animals increased significantly compared to the previous intensive use of the fields.

Public debate

Harvest under a high-mounted agrophotovoltaic system

In contrast to nuclear and coal-fired power plants , ground-mounted systems are less often discussed. Nevertheless, critics complain, among other things, of the unnecessary loss of space that could be used for other purposes, and cite aesthetic aspects. Proponents, on the other hand, argue with the negligibly small proportion of facilities compared to the total area used for agriculture and the creation of natural habitats and conservation of biodiversity.

Agrophotovoltaics, agrovoltaics

System concept of a vertical bifacial agrophotovoltaic system
A bifacial solar fence offers chickens double protection and farmers an additional source of income
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 Image wanted 
BW

Under the keywords agrophotovoltaics (abbreviated APV, AgroPV or Agro-PV) or agrovoltaics, the advantages of combining open-space systems with agricultural production are now the focus of research: In Italy this is already known as "Agrovoltaico" or "Food and Energy" practiced, in Germany there has been a trial operation near Lake Constance since 2016 at the "Hofgemeinschaft Heggelbach ". Photovoltaic panels mounted at least 5 m above the ground allow the soil to be tilled and harvested using standard agricultural machinery. The idea comes from Adolf Goetzberger . The project was initiated by the Freiburg Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Energy Generation and Agriculture.

Numerous plants such as potatoes , hops or lettuce thrive even better under photovoltaic systems than in the blazing sun; other crops such as barley , rape or cabbage can hardly be influenced by the moderate shade. In Germany, other plants in the areas where the PV modules hit the ground brought crop losses of up to 20%, while in hotter regions such as India there were no losses.

Another approach is the vertical installation of bifacial modules: They can convert sunlight from both sides into electrical energy, so that good to very good energy yields can be achieved from both sides together even with vertical installation. In such systems, the floor area is not built over, but can continue to be used up to approx. 90% between the vertical module rows. A pilot plant based on this principle was built in Saarland in 2015. In 2018, a first commercial plant with 2 MWp went into operation, another plant with 4.1 MWp is in operation near Donaueschingen- Aasen. A modification of the concept is the bifacial solar fence introduced in 2019. The height is reduced to one module and a gap to the floor is closed with a grid. The solar fence can be used in agriculture as a boundary for chicken runs or pastures. The solar fence offers z. B. Chickens both protection from predators and too much sunlight. The solar fence is also used by private individuals to enclose properties.

The largest agrophotovoltaic system is in China (as of 2019), where there is government funding, as in France and Japan.

In Germany there are currently (2018) some obstacles in the construction and operation of agrophotovoltaic systems, e.g. B. no funding under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), a necessary reallocation of corresponding agricultural areas to commercial areas or the elimination of EU agricultural subsidies.

Floating photovoltaic open space systems

On inland lakes , photovoltaic systems can be installed on floating bodies , for example hollow HDPE blocks. Their efficiency is slightly higher than that of comparable systems on land because they are cooled by the water.

In 2008 the first commercial plant was put into operation.

In March 2016, a floating system with 6.3 MWp installed on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Walton-on-Thames went into operation.

In 2017 a 40 MWp plant (at that time the world's largest plant) went into operation in Huainan ( PR China ). The facility extends over 93 hectares and has 132,400 solar modules. BayWa re had a 14.5 MW system installed
on a quarry pond near Zwolle (Netherlands) . It covers about 10 hectares of the lake.

International investments

Solar parks have been and are being implemented in a large number of countries around the world. As the construction of new plants and the expansion of existing parks progresses, the title “most powerful plant” is shifted accordingly. In January 2017, for example, the solar park near the Longyangxia Dam in China, with an output of 850 MW p, was the most powerful in the world, and the Tamil Nadu solar park in India came in second with an output of 648 MW p . The solar parks Solar Star and Topaz in the USA have over 500 MW p . In 2019, the Pavagada solar park in the southern Indian state of Karnataka was one of the most powerful: In April 2019 it had an output of 1,400 MW p .

As of December 2015, the largest solar park in Europe is the Cestas solar park in France , which has an output of 300 MW p .

Construction of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park began in Dubai : the first expansion stage with 13 MW in autumn 2013, a further expansion stage with 200 MW in spring 2015. This sub-area, which was commissioned in May 2018, was considered the solar park until mid-2016 with the world's lowest electricity generation costs. Acwa Power , the operator , receives a fixed feed- in tariff of 5.84 US cents (4.9 euro cents) per kWh over a period of 25 years. In the third expansion stage, which was put out to tender in mid-2016, this feed-in tariff was again greatly reduced. For the 800 MW p system, the operator receives a feed-in tariff of the equivalent of 2.6 ct / kWh over 25 years. Overall, the solar park is to be expanded to an output of 5,000 MW p .

A few days later, this cost record was undercut again in a tender in Chile . There, electricity production costs for a 120 MW p solar park were $ 29.1 / MWh, which, according to Bloomberg LP, is the lowest electricity production costs that have ever been achieved in a power plant project worldwide. By 2020 these values ​​halved again. In April 2020, a bidder in the Al-Dhafra solar park was awarded the contract, who had agreed to build the 2 GW solar park at a price of 1.35 US cents / kWh (1.13 ct / kWh). Previously, other projects with less than 2 US cents / kWh had already been awarded.

There are several solar park projects worldwide with outputs of 1 GW and more. The largest planned project to date was presented by Softbank and Saudi Arabia in March 2018 . According to this, a solar park is to be built in Saudi Arabia by 2030, which will gradually be expanded to a capacity of 200 GW. The total investment for the project is given as around 200 billion dollars; Compared to Saudi Arabia's current electricity mix, consisting of oil and gas, solar power is expected to save around 40 billion dollars in electricity costs.

As of December 2015, the largest solar park in Scandinavia was the Lerchenborg solar park with an output of 61 MW p .

A solar power plant, the Benban solar park, was built near the Egyptian city of Aswan in 2018/2019 . During construction it was announced that it would be the largest solar power plant in the world with 1650 MW p . However, during its construction period, Benban was overtaken in terms of output by Bhadla Solar Park in the Indian state of Rajasthan , which achieved an output of 1,800 MW in 2019. In December 2019 the Pavagada Solar Park in the southern Indian state of Karnataka became the largest solar park in the world with 2050 MW. In March 2020, its output was again exceeded by the completed Bhadla Solar Park , which with 2245 MW became the world's largest.

The largest solar systems

Installation power Location
  1988 0.000.34 MW p Photovoltaic system Kobern-Gondorf
  1991 0.000.36 MW p Neurather See solar system
  2002 0.000.5 MW p Solar system in the Morbach energy landscape
08 Sep 2004 0.005.0 MW p Espenhain solar power plant One of the largest plants in Europe for commissioning
  2005 0.006.3 MW p Bavaria solar park For the commissioning of the largest solar park in the world
  2005 0.005.0 MW p Bürstadt photovoltaic system At the time of commissioning, it was the largest photovoltaic roof system in the world
  2006 0.011.4 MW p Erlasee solar field Largest solar park in the world by 2008
  2008 (end of year) 0.015 MW p Koethen Airport
 Aug 2009 0.052 MW p Photovoltaic power plant " Waldpolenz " At the time of commissioning, it was the largest German photovoltaic system and the second largest in the world
Aug 20, 2009 0.053 MW p Lieberose solar park At the time of commissioning one of the largest systems in Germany
 Dec 2009 0.054 MW p Gänsdorf solar field in Straßkirchen At the time of commissioning one of the largest systems in Germany
  2011 0.080.7 MW p Finsterwalde solar park Largest photovoltaic park in Germany at the time of commissioning.
 Dec 2011 0.084.5 MW p Finow Tower solar park At the time of commissioning, it was the largest ground-mounted system in Europe
Sep 24 2011 0.166 MW p Senftenberg solar complex At the time of commissioning, it was the largest connected solar complex in the world
0Dec 1, 2011 0.091 MW p Brandenburg-Briest solar park
Sep 30 2012 0.128 MW p Templin-Groß Dölln solar park
 March 2013 0.145 MW p Neuhardenberg solar park Largest photovoltaic park in Germany at the time of commissioning
 May 2017 0.040 MW p Huainan solar park Largest floating photovoltaic system in the world
 Jan. 2017 0.850 MW p Longyangxia solar park Largest photovoltaic park in the world

Web links

Wiktionary: Photovoltaic  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Solarpark  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

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