Officially in operation: Austria's largest ground-mounted PV plant

Plant has an output of 11.45 MW and supplies 4900 households

We erected what is currently Austria's largest photovoltaic plant on a former ballast landfill in Donaustadt on behalf of Wien Energie. The groundbreaking ceremony was in October. After successful trial operation, the 11.45 megawatt turbine is officially in operation as of today. This short implementation phase is only possible due to the perfect interaction between commercial and technical project management," explains technical project manager Harald Frindt. "I am particularly pleased that the project in neighbouring Austria was so successfully manoeuvred through the Corona crisis with all its imponderables for the employees and companies involved," emphasises sales manager and authorised signatory Christian Mayr. In the future, the "Schafflerhof" will simultaneously generate environmentally friendly electricity for thousands of Viennese households and will also be used for farming. From spring onwards, 150 Jura sheep will graze between the 25,626 photovoltaic modules, and arable farming is also planned, with part of the PV system being designed as an agricultural photovoltaic system. The approximately 400 modules are bifacial – i.e. they produce electricity on both sides – and stand vertically. This means that a tractor can drive between the rows of modules without any problems and the area can be used for agricultural purposes, such as growing vegetables. The area between the agricultural photovoltaic modules is thus used up to 60 percent more efficiently.

With plants of this size, connection to the electricity grid is also a challenge, as this could be overloaded during production peaks. The innovative solution: The Schafflerhofstraße photovoltaic plant is part of a hybrid power plant. It is connected to the same power line as the Wien Energie wind farm in Andlersdorf. This supplies up to 9 megawatts of power to the grid. Wind and solar peaks are rarely simultaneous, so both plants can run at full capacity at the same time without overloading the electricity grid. If an excess of renewable electricity is produced nevertheless, a buffer electricity storage system is used. It absorbs production peaks and feeds the solar power produced into the electricity grid at a later point in time. The storage facility will be in operation by the summer.

Every year, the giant solar power plant with its 25,626 modules saves 4200 tonnes of CO2, thus making a significant contribution to more climate protection in the city.

PV-Magazine in Germany has already reported on this online
PV-Magazine 4th March 2021
and also in the print edition that will be published shortly.