STEAG and Trianel expand solar operations in Germany
Essen/Würzburg/Aachen. STEAG Solar Energy Solutions GmbH (SENS), a subsidiary of Essen’s STEAG GmbH, and Trianel Energieprojekte GmbH & Co. KG (TEP), a subsidiary of the Trianel municipal utilities association, are entering into a cooperation agreement for the construction of ground-mounted PV systems on a partnership basis. Before the end of this year two solar parks will be built in Brandenburg and Rhineland-Palatinate respectively. The installations have a total capacity of around 17 megawatts (MWp). SENS and Trianel are thus further expanding their operations on the domestic photovoltaics market.
"Together with SENS we are expanding our PV activities and further developing our extensive portfolio of renewable energy projects for municipal utilities. We are pleased to have gained in SENS a reliable EPC partner for the joint implementation of high-quality PV projects", says Andreas Lemke, head of project development onshore at Trianel.
The two solar parks are to be handed over ready for use by the end of 2020 as part of a so-called "EPC" (engineering, procurement, construction) project. The STEAG subsidiary SENS will be responsible for the entire planning, construction and supervision of the operations, as well as the establishment of the associated grid connections.
Construction work in Brandenburg already begun
SENS and Trianel are already beginning to install more than 27,000 photovoltaic modules near Frankenwalde in Brandenburg. The solar park is being built over a length of 1,200 metres parallel to the A 20 motorway, and will have a total installed capacity of 9 megawatts (MWp). The construction of the facility, which is just under 7.5 hectares in size, is to be completed in October. It will go into operation by the end of the year and will generate around 9,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity annually. By way of comparison, this corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of around 3,000 households. At the same time the installation will save 5,250 tons of CO2 emissions year after year.
Project in Rhineland-Palatinate to begin in September
Even though construction work on the second plant in Schleich on the Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate will not start until September, SENS and Trianel will also have completed this project by December 2020. By then 19,750 PV modules will have been installed on an area also covering around 7.5 hectares on a slope above a wine-growing area. In addition to the ground-mounted photovoltaic system with an output of 7.9 megawatts, SENS will also provide the associated grid connection to the regional 20-kilovolt (kV) medium-voltage grid.
The project is expected to supply 2,600 households with green electricity in the future. This means that the equivalent of around 4,675 tonnes of CO2 emissions will be eliminated each year.
Contracts supporting the SENS strategy
The two solar projects are the starting signal for further cooperation between the two companies. These contracts, in which SENS as the EPC service provider undertakes the entire execution of the project up to the turnkey handover of the installation, reinforce the company’s strategy of further expanding its activities on the domestic PV market. In addition to the implementation of a large number of rooftop and ground-mounted systems, the company is currently pushing its solar systems developed in-house within Germany. The target is an installed capacity in the high three-digit megawatt range.
Trianel brings together project developments in the field of renewable energies, and enables municipal utilities to invest in the nationwide expansion of solar and wind energy beyond their own city limits. Founded in 2018, Trianel Energieprojekte GmbH & Co. KG bundles the project activities of Trianel GmbH in the onshore wind and photovoltaic sector. In addition to developing projects with local partners for tendering operations, Trianel focuses on the acquisition of existing projects and works with a variety of partners to expand its project pipeline across Germany.
