Energie Steiermark commissions 17.2-MW solar park in Austria

• Austrian power company Energie Steiermark has actually put into operation a 17.2-MW solar park in the south of the Alpine country as part of a technique for massive solar development in the coming years.

The solar plant was constructed for less than a year on a 21-hectare (51.89 acres) plot on a former coal mine in the municipalities of Baernbach as well as Rosental, western Styria. With an estimated annual generation of 18 million kWh, the center is Austria's largest solar park that feeds green power directly right into the public grid. Its output will certainly suffice to supply 5,700 families in the region, Energie Steiermark said today in a statement.

The building of the solar park needed an investment of EUR 12 million (USD 12.54 m).

The task is part of Energie Steiermark's approach to invest EUR 250 million in solar growth in the next 5 years. The Graz-based company supplies electricity, gas as well as heat and its operations are focused largely on the province of Styria.

"It is our stated goal to quadruple the current variety of collection agencies," claimed Energie Steiermark's directors Christian Purrer as well as Martin Graf.

Currently, greater than 25,000 solar systems are feeding electrical power right into the power network in Styria and the planned growth will certainly concentrate on the existing roof and also landfill areas as well as the dual use land for farming purposes when building ground-mounted solar plants. The power firm has currently protected around 450 hectares across the state.