The soon-to-be-constructed largest solar power plant in Europe — the 300 MW project in Cestas, France — will be built partially from Yingli Solar’s YGE 72 Cell solar panels, according to recent reports.
Yingli Solar recently announced that it will be supplying 120 MW of YGE 72 Cell solar panels to the project — representing a significant fraction of the total capacity of the new project. Once completed (October 2015 is the expectation), the project will be the largest in Europe — arguably adding a fair bit of prestige to Yingli’s operations there.
As per the new agreement, Yingli Solar will supply more than 393,000 multicrystalline panels between the months of December 2014 and June 2015. These panels will be used on a significant portion of the project’s planned “25 solar plants” — which are to be spread out across 250 hectares of land.
The project — which is expected to cost a total of around €360 million — is being developed by the French power company Neoen. Engineering and construction services have been contracted out to a number of local French companies — including Eiffage-Clemessy and Schneider Electric.
“One important step for a project of such immense proportions is to gain the trust of investors and banks, which involves choosing the right partners. We are confident that our decision to work with Yingli, well recognized for their reliable services will help us to meet the challenging project program while ensuring the long term performance of the plants,” explained Mr Patrick de Labrusse, Cestas Project Director, Eiffage-Clemessy.
A recent press release provides more:
Yingli Solar’s high efficiency panels will comprise more than one third of the overall project. They will be mounted in an east-west orientation to boost the system’s overall power density given their layout.
The developer has worked hard on multiple system optimizations and plant design in order to increase the project’s profitability and competitiveness. As a result, the plant will provide electricity at 105 Euro per MWh, which is below the price of the United Kingdom’s new nuclear electricity, for example. By driving down the cost of solar electricity, the project clearly demonstrates the increasing competitiveness of solar PV against traditional energy sources.
“We are honored to be part of this milestone project in the European PV market, and to be delivering a promising model that is driven by profitability and cost-competitiveness rather than dependence on public incentives,” noted Yingli’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Liansheng Miao. “Reaching grid parity is a reality now and we are pleased to partner with innovative European companies such as Neoen and Eiffage-Clemessy – they set a high standard and work hard every day to build a low-carbon economy across Europe.”
-> More Yingli Solar news on CleanTechnica: cleantechnica.com/tag/Yingli-Solar
-> Yingli’s website: yinglisolar.com
Image Credit: Yingli Solar
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