With the granting of planning permission on 13 June 2012, the first construction phase for the Thunpadel solar power plant in Lower Saxony began on the site of an old sawmill. On the same day workers began driving piles into the ground, onto which 816 mounting racks and 19,584 modules were mounted during the following 15 days. The polycrystalline modules produce a rated output of approximately 4.7 MWp. As the general contractor, ib vogt GmbH is developing, planning and realising the project.
The Thunpadel solar park is located on the site of an old sawmill south of the municipality of Karwitz in the rural district of Lüchow-Dannenberg. The site has remained unused since 2001. Thanks to the solar power plant, the former brownfield site not only has a new purpose but the local community will also benefit in future from the business tax revenues. Its close proximity to the nuclear waste storage facility at Gorleben means that the solar power plant also sets a particularly positive signal for the energy turnaround.
Work on the second construction phase will commence during the next few weeks. The completed solar power plant will extend across an area around 13 hectares in size with a future rated output of approximately 10 MWp. This will enable around 2,900 households to be supplied with electricity with simultaneous carbon dioxide savings of around 5,000 tonnes a year.
