A ground-mounted photovoltaic plant has just been brought online on the grounds of Bioenergiepark Forst in Brandenburg, Germany.

STEAG Solar Energy Solutions worked with the biogas all-rounder from Lower Saxony as a joint partner in this project.

“Effective immediately, the 750 kWp solar facility will produce solar power for internal use at our own gas upgrading plant.”

Frank Hinken.

The STEAG Solar Energy Solutions team planned and implemented the turnkey facility on behalf of Biogas Forst.

“The project objectives were achieved without exception, of course always in compliance with the currently applicable protective regulations.”

Fabian Herr, head of Projects at SENS.

The project also marks an initial milestone for in-house operations at EnviTec Biogas (which also owns Biogas Forst) and there are now plans to equip other biogas plants with a PV facility. Biogas plants with gas upgrading offer the perfect conditions for such projects, since they have a higher electricity demand.

“Apart from ROI considerations, the installation footprint also has to be properly assessed, so we’re currently looking at available ground array space at our other in-house plants.”

Frank Hinken.

The centrepiece of Bioenergiepark Forst is a gas upgrading plant with a 700 normal cubic metre capacity, which has fed around 65,000 megawatt hours of green energy into the local gas grid every year since September 2014.

This has enabled the delivery of renewable natural gas to around 4,000 households. With the newly constructed PV plant, the bioenergy park is becoming even more sustainable: the PV plant covers part of the energy required for the gas processing and biogas plant, so that the bioenergy park can dispense with significant amounts of conventionally generated electricity.

The roughly 2,500 solar modules installed generate around 740 MWh per year. Thanks to the plant’s sizing, up to 98% of the energy generated is used daily for internal requirements, with any excess power being fed into the public grid.