According to Energie Steiermark, it is “Austria’s largest photovoltaic park”, which is now located on the former mining area in the municipality of Bärnbach and Rosental an der Kainach and which was put into operation on Wednesday.
The first talks for the project took place in 2018, the option contract for the property was signed in May 2020, and the project was then decided in autumn of the same year – more on this in Largest photovoltaic park in Austria in planning (18.6.2020). Finally, in May 2022, the official start of construction took place.
Opening after almost a year of construction
The plant was built in less than a year: “The current turbulence on the energy market shows how important it was to act early and implement it quickly,” said the directors of Energie Steiermark, Christian Purrer and Martin Graf in a press release A total of 38,000 collectors were installed on an area of 21 hectares – which corresponds to around 28 football pitches.
The output of 17.2 megawatts roughly corresponds to the output of a medium-sized hydroelectric power plant on the Mur; According to Energie Steiermark, this means that more than 18 million kilowatt hours of electricity are generated each year – green electricity that is distributed to 5,700 households in the region via the Bärnbach substation. Energie Steiermark invested 12 million euros in the construction of the plant.
Plant according to Drexler “prime example”
According to State Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP), the new plant is another important step towards the energy transition: “It is a prime example, because no valuable areas are sealed here, but an abandoned heap in an old mining area is used to produce electricity. So it is the aim of politics to expand the areas even further – more on this in Government pushes solar and wind power (11.10.2022).
It was not until the end of October that another large photovoltaic park went into operation in Neudau in East Styria: Since then, solar power has been generated for around 3,500 households on an area of twelve hectares – more on this in Neudau: New photovoltaic park in operation (25.10.2022).
PV systems are to be quadrupled
In total, Energie Steiermark is planning to invest around 250 million euros in solar power over the next five years. “It is our declared goal to quadruple the current number of collectors,” say Purrer and Graf. More than 25,000 PV systems are currently connected to the Styrian energy network.
“We are pleased about the determination and the tailwind of the state in the question of PV expansion and will invest around 1.2 billion euros in a corresponding reinforcement of our grids in the coming years,” said the board of directors of Energie Steiermark. The priority is to use existing roof and landfill areas, but also agricultural areas, according to the board: “In total, we have currently secured around 450 hectares nationwide.”