Hansainvest Real Assets has switched on Europe’s largest solar plant – a 605 MW installation in Saxony, Germany. The project spans 500 hectares and operates under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Shell Energy Europe.
German investment firm Hansainvest Real Assets has inaugurated a 605 MW solar plant in Witznitz, near Leipzig, Germany. The facility is currently Europe's largest operational PV project. Before it was commissioned, Europe's largest solar installation was a 300 MW system in Cestas, southern France. It was switched on in 2015.
The developer of the 605 MW plant, Move On Energy, will install another 45 MW at the site by summer 2024. It took less than two years to build the Witznitz project. The groundbreaking ceremony for the facility took place in June 2022.
Move On Energy deployed around 1.1 million solar modules over 500 hectares of the former “Witznitz II” open-cast brown coal mine. As part of the project, new cycle and riding paths were created. Hedges were created along the fences around the huge power plant.
Hansainvest Real Assets also plans to test “parallel agricultural use on the area below the solar modules.” There is a test area of 5 hectares to 10 hectares for this purpose.
In 2023, the investment firm concluded a long-term PPA with Shell Energy Europe to purchase solar power from the facility.
