Solar plant on difficult terrain complements existing wind farm

Project developer GP Joule has commissioned the second phase of the Sande hybrid energy park in Lower Saxony. Last year, the company built a facility with an output of approximately 83 megawatts for the utility Friesen Elektra. This facility was combined with the existing Sande wind farm to form the hybrid energy park. GP Joule's installers have further expanded the park. The second phase of the solar plant, with an output of 35 megawatts, has now also been connected to the grid.

Own founding procedure used

The facility is located on an area of ​​approximately 35 hectares along the A29 highway. The planners encountered considerable difficulties. The facilities had to be anchored in soil that was aggressive to the steel piles. Therefore, GP Joule used a self-developed drilling and foundation method to construct the modules' platforms.

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Use demanding areas

During construction, the planning team also had to consider the cable routing of the existing systems, the numerous waterways on the site, and the requirements of historic preservation, while still creating an economically optimal system design. "I'm pleased that we were able to implement the second phase on schedule and smoothly," says Paola Pignatelli, Project Manager at GP Joule. Meik Georg Gessner, Managing Director of GP Joule, adds: "We want to advance the use of space even under challenging conditions and not just promise optimal capacity utilization. We demonstrated that in Sande," he says.

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Electricity supplied via PPA

The second module field, now under construction, will produce approximately 36,000 kilowatt hours of solar power annually. This will be sold directly to Salzgitter AG via a power purchase agreement (PPA), as Max Wedel, Managing Director of Friesen Elektra Green Energy, confirms. The project partners have thus created a massive PPA solar park in Lower Saxony – on difficult marshland and in conjunction with wind energy, as Max Wedel puts it. "This shows that we can produce green electricity for industry cost-effectively in Germany," he says. "We must not block this opportunity through bureaucracy and poor market regulations. Anyone who wants to keep industrial value creation in Germany must finally make access to green electricity easier," demands the Friesen Elektra CEO.

Creative financing

But financing also played a role. "This project would not have been possible without the creative project financing from DZ Bank and Volksbank Jever," says Christian Gätje, CFO of Friesen Elektra. "Out-of-the-box thinking and the belief in a green industrial infrastructure in Germany – that's what made us strong together."

Perfect symbiosis of solar park, substation and battery storage

Collaboration was particularly important

Christoph Cordes, Green Power Project Manager at Friesen Elektra Green Energy, praises the collaboration with GP Joule, which was particularly important for this project. "We planned, drilled, built, and connected the power grid in the most difficult terrain – with one clear goal in mind: maximum output, minimal friction," he says. "Projects like this only succeed when all the threads, from approval to construction to grid connection, are tightly controlled – and that was the case here."

GP Joule takes over operational management

Following the completion of construction and successful commissioning, GP Joule Service is now taking over the technical management of the two solar plants on behalf of Friesen Elektra. This includes monitoring, transparent reporting, maintenance, inspection, and repair, which GP Joule ensures with its own service teams.