Vattenfall has opened its first floating solar farm in Gendringen, the Netherlands. For a company used to promote wing energy, the solar farm became a new milestone, REVE reports.
The solar farm, with a capacity of 1.2 megawatt, was built on the site of the sand and gravel extraction company Netterden. An appearance of such powerful energetic object means for a city a lot. From now on, half of the annual energy consumption of the electric sand dredge and the associated sorting and processing equipment will be generated sustainably on-site.
Given that space for building solar farms is scarce in the Netherlands, the new floating solar farm is a real achievement. For Vattenfall, construction of such floating solar farms, for example on ponds and pools resulting from sand and gravel extraction. An additional benefit is that the water cools the panels naturally, which increases their efficiency compared to land-based solar panels.
Being the prime contractor, Vattenfall was fully responsible for building the floating solar farm, while Netterden provided the funding. According to the energy company, Netterden’s vision of a socially responsible business was the main reason for launching this project. In other words, green energy is a natural part of this.
“This ambition is an excellent fit with Vattenfall’s mission to make fossil-free living possible within one generation. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to make this project feasible for them”, says Ivo Iprenburg, Business Development Manager.
The official ceremony of solar farm’s handing over to Netterden took place on 25 September.
Vattenfall is offering a full range of energy services for producers and large consumers of renewable electricity in all Nordic and North-European countries.
Vattenfall’s Nordic customers’ wind assets are managed from the Nordic dispatch center in Stockholm, where the company combines comprehensive experience from European power markets with the latest available technology in order to optimize value creation on ancillary service markets and intra/day-ahead power markets. Currently, Vattenfall has electricity sales as well as hydropower plants in Finland.
