Utility-scale solar power plant

German-based juwi Solar is putting the finishing touches to the second-largest photovoltaic power plant in the world.

German-based juwi Solar is putting the finishing touches to a utility-scale solar power plant in Brandenburg, which, when it begins producing 53MW of power later in the year, will be the second-largest photovoltaic installation in the world.

The project, which uses about 700,000 thin-film modules supplied predominantly from Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar’s nearby Frankfurt/Oder factory, will cover 162 hectares or the equivalent of more than 210 football fields.

It is being developed on the largest former military training site of the Soviet army in Germany.

According to juwi Solar's Matthias Willenbacher, the so-called Lieberose project alone will help save about 35,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

As general contractor, juwi partner juwi Solar is responsible for planning, logistics, supervising the construction and delivering the finished solar farm, which is expected to be sold to an investor when it is complete.

Once finished, it will produce enough electricity to cover the equivalent electricity needs of about 15,000 households.

Earlier this month, First Solar announced that it had been awarded a contract from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to build a 55MW solar power project in Imperial County, California.

Construction of this solar power plant, which will be designed and constructed by First Solar also using its thin-film solar modules, is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2011.