World's 'biggest' solar electric plant opens in Germany : International

Arnstein (Germany), Sep 1 (DPA) A solar electric power plant, billed by its operators as the world's biggest, went into service in the southern German state of Bavaria Friday. More than 1,400 movable solar modules will collect the sun's rays and harness them into energy for around 3,500 households, according to operators Solon AG. The company has invested 70 million euros ($90 million) in the project, which took 15 months to complete and will have an output of 12 megawatts when fully operational. Located on a 77-hectare field near the town of Arnstein, the plant consists of rows of movable modules which automatically tilt and rotate during the day to face the sun at all times. This technology gets the maximum benefit from the sun's rays and enables the plant to generate up to 35 per cent more electricity than a fixed solar array, according to Solon AG spokeswoman Therese Raatz. The area around the modules is not fenced off, allowing sheep to graze on the land and save it from erosion, Raatz said. The plant is located in the same state as a solar park in Pocking which held the previous record as the world's biggest, providing 10 megawatts of electricity to 3,300 homes. Germans last year invested 3.7 billion euros in solar energy, one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy along with wind power and biomass. Solar energy accounts for less than 1 per cent of the country's energy needs, but the figure is expected to grow to more than five percent by 2020, according to the German Solar Energy Association BSW.