First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) and Juwi Holding AG today announced they have secured financing for a 53-megawatt (MW) DC photovoltaic (PV) power plant near the German city of Cottbus.
More than 80% of the required project capital is financed through non-recourse debt from a consortium of banks. First Solar and Juwi intend to sell the majority of the project after its completion. Construction of the project began in January 2009, and the first 15 MW have been completed. The remaining 38MW are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009.
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The project is being constructed on 162 hectares of land that is part of the Soviet Army’s former 26,000 hectare Lieberose training area north of Cottbus in eastern Germany. The project’s low cost enables the required return to fund an attractive land lease for the State of Brandenburg. The lease, in turn, finances the environmental cleanup of this former military zone, which is littered with tons of land mines, grenades and other munitions.
Matthias Platzeck, minister president of the German state government of Brandenburg, where Lieberose is located, said the project is a model for the conversion of former military land to productive use. “This kind of project helps us heal the scars of the Cold War and meet our ambitious targets for renewable energy production at the same time,” he said.
Upon completion, the PV power plant will consist of approximately 700,000 modules and is projected to be the largest in Germany—producing enough power to provide for the annual electricity needs of more than 14,000 homes—and the second largest worldwide.
Matthias Willenbacher, Juwi chief executive, said, “Large projects like this one demonstrate that solar power is already capable of making significant contributions to addressing climate change.”
With this project, Juwi, using First Solar modules, has developed the three largest PV power plants in Germany. The Juwi Group was founded in 1996 by Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung.
The CEOs together transformed the company from a two-person operation focusing on wind farm project development into an internationally active group with around 500 employees and an annual turnover of more than 400 million euros. As well as solar power and bioenergy, Juwi also specializes in wind and water power, and geothermal energy. To date, Juwi has installed more than 300 wind turbines producing a total output of over 450 MW, while in the solar sector, Juwi has set up around 800 PV systems with a total capacity of more than 220,000 KW as of December 2008.
In February, Juwi and Segro plc (SGRO.L), one of Europe’s leading property investment and developing companies, agreed on long-term cooperation for rooftop solar installations.
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