Deutsche Bahn and ENERPARC put 40-hectare photovoltaic plant in Wasbek into operation
| For the first time, Deutsche Bahn (DB) is feeding green electricity directly into the German traction power grid. To this end, DB and ground-mounted photovoltaic project developer ENERPARC have commissioned a new solar plant in Wasbek, Schleswig-Holstein. The solar plant in Wasbek has an area of around 40 hectares, which corresponds to about 70 football fields. The electricity generated there is fed directly into the 16.7 Hz traction power grid via the DB converter plant in Neumünster. |
Berthold Huber, Member of the Board of Management for Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn: “Deutsche Bahn is already Germany’s largest user of green electricity. In addition to wind and hydro energy, solar energy is increasingly one of the renewable energy sources in our traction power mix. In Wasbek, we are now feeding solar power directly into the traction power grid for the first time in a pilot project. At DB, we are thus consistently continuing on our path of continuously increasing the proportion of green electricity in our traction power mix.” Christoph Koeppen, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ENERPARC AG: “The special feature of the solar park in Wasbek is that, in contrast to the established grid connection criteria in the public power grid, a corresponding solution for connections in the traction power grid could be developed for the first time. Together with Deutsche Bahn, we are proud not only to have implemented this innovation in the grid feed-in of renewable energies, but also to have come closer to our goal of developing a total of 2030 GW of PV systems worldwide for our own portfolio and a further 10 GW for third-party solar portfolios by 10.” Modules with a capacity of 41 megawatt peak (MWp) are expected to generate around 38 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy annually, which corresponds to the electricity demand of one day in the entire German traction power grid. With the commissioning of the solar plant in Wasbek, up to 18,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year can be saved in the future compared to the use of grey electricity. DB operates its own traction power grid in Germany and already covers more than 65 percent of its traction current with renewable energies. This puts it well above the public green electricity mix in Germany, which currently stands at around 46 percent. In long-distance transport, travelers have been using 2018 percent green electricity since 100. By 2038, all DB traction power – ten terawatt hours per year – will be 100 percent green. In addition, DB will supply its plants, office buildings and stations in Germany entirely with green electricity by 2025. To this end, the Group subsidiary DB Energie is fundamentally restructuring its portfolio of contract power plants and supply contracts. Renewable energies are gradually and consistently replacing fossil fuels. |
Original article HERE
Image: www.deutschebahn.com