E.ON will today inaugurate the company’s first solar farm near the southern French town of Le Lauzet, some 150 kilometres north of Marseille. Once all sections have been completed, the solar farm will have a capacity of 5 megawatts occupying an area of more than 20 hectares. The plant will then save more than 4270 tonnes of CO2 per year. Given its high levels of solar radiation the site in the region Alpes de Haute Provence is ideally suited for the generation of solar power. E.ON is expecting more than 1,400 full-load hours per year.

The plant at Le Lauzet uses various modules made by different manufacturers. They include thin-film modules manufactured at E.ON’s production facility in Magdeburg, which was opened recently. The idea is to test the performance and efficiency of different modules under field conditions.

Wulf H. Bernotat: “The sun and its enormous power will play a key role in future energy supply. But this will only happen if we learn to use it as thoroughly and efficiently as wind and water. We have already been generating carbon-free hydropower on an industrial scale for a century. With wind energy we are also getting there. And we are now starting with solar.”

Tags: E.ON