Mar 23 2010
EnBW Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG ("EnBW"), the third largest energy company in Germany, announced that it plans to build a solar park in Baden-Wuerttemberg using 5.5 MW of photovoltaic ("PV") modules produced by Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Solarfun") (Nasdaq: SOLF), a vertically integrated manufacturer of silicon ingots, wafers and PV cells and modules in China.
The solar park, one of the largest in the region, will be constructed on a former dumpsite and is expected to be connected to the grid in June 2010. The new project is expected to supply electricity to approximately 1,970 households and save approximately 3,990 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Stefan Thiele, spokesman of the management board of EnBW Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, commented, "EnBW is expanding its development goals in the renewable energy sector. In addition to a central focus on hydropower and wind energy, EnBW is also increasingly concentrating on solar energy. We are looking forward to building this project in the town of Eggingen near Ulm, Germany. It will be our fifth PV project in the past few months and will be one of the biggest solar parks in the region. The eight hectares will be covered by polycrystalline PV modules produced by Solarfun. Siemens will deliver the central inverters. The construction work will be provided by Bayer & Raach, a solar company in Zwiefalten, Germany."
EnBW plans to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 20% by 2020. In doing so, EnBW intends to focus on the expansion of wind energy and hydropower and on further developing technologies such as solar energy, biomass and biogas. In the PV field, EnBW will increase its installed power to 10 MW with the Ulm-Eggingen solar park. EnBW connected its first large solar project with a 2.1 MW park in Leibertingen. In addition, EnBW installed approximately 1 MW of PV modules on the roofs of its logistics and administration centers in Wendlingen and Stuttgart.
Peter Xie, President of Solarfun, added, "We are pleased that EnBW decided to choose our high-quality modules for this new project in Germany. EnBW is an important new customer and we look forward to building a long-term relationship with EnBW. Renewable energy continues to play an important role in Germany and we are happy that our advanced technology will be serving the people of Baden-Wuerttemberg for many years to come."