A specialty of the Velsen solar farm is that it is crowdfunded by customers of Nuon, Vattenfall’s Dutch subsidiary.
During the next few months Vattenfall will build two more large-scale solar power plants in the country, Eemshaven and Hemweg. In total the three solar farms will comprise over 30.000 solar panels with a total capacity of 10 MW. But this is just a mere start. In the next years Vattenfall will invest 100 million euro in solar power.
Benefits of co-location: cheaper and quicker
All three solar farms are co-located with existing gas-fired CHP plants. Co-location means that the solar farms can utilize existing grid connections and also the space at the plant. In Wales Vattenfall has co-located a 5 MW solar farm with a wind farm called Parc Cynog and next year a 40 MW solar power facility is planned in connection to the Dutch wind farm Haringvliet.
“Co-location offers many advantages to us, since we can develop the projects quicker and profit from synergies, so this is something we will definitely do more of. At the moment, the Dutch market is very attractive and we develop many co-located and stand-alone projects there. But costs of solar PV are dropping fast and we are also developing projects in the UK, Sweden and Germany. We see a high potential for solar power in the next years,” says Claus Wattendrup, Vice President of Vattenfall’s department for Solar & Batteries, which is part of Vattenfall’s Business Area Wind.
Facts
Velsen solar power farm
Number of panels: 7.300
Installed capacity: 2.3 MW
Construction start: July 2018
Eemshaven solar power farm
Number of panels: 17.700
Installed capacity: 5.7 MW
Construction start: August 2018
Hemweg solar power farm
Number of panels: 7.600
Installed capacity: 2.4 MW
Construction start: Autumn 2018
Haringervliet solar power farm
Number of panels: depending on panel type
Installed capacity: 40 MW
Construction start: 2019
