NIBC Infrastructure Partners and DIF acquire 40MWP of German solar photovoltaics (PV) plants from Q-Cells SE
NIBC and DIF Infrastructure today announced that Q-Cells SE, one of the world's leading photovoltaic companies, has completed the sale of the Finsterwalde II & III PV power plants to Blue Forrest Solar Holding, a joint venture owned by DIF Infrastructure II ("DIF") and the NIBC European Infrastructure Fund. The Finsterwalde II & III plants have a combined installed capacity of 40 megawatts-peak (MWp). Combined with the Finsterwalde I PV power plant, which was sold by Q-Cells in 2010, the overall Finsterwalde site has an installed capacity of 82 MWp, making it Germany's largest solar PV site to date.
The Finsterwalde II & III solar PV plants are located south of the city of Finsterwalde in the federal state of Brandenburg, and comprise 171,888 crystalline solar modules, covering an area of 95 hectares from a former opencast coal mine. The solar modules were supplied and installed by Q Cells and are expected to generate enough power to supply around 10,000 homes; thereby reducing CO2 emissions by around 23.000 tons per year.
The Finsterwalde II & III solar PV plants were finally connected to the German grid in September 2010 and have operated successfully since then. Q-Cells will continue to oversee the operation and maintenance of the plants under a long term contract.