Solar Magazine – Project of the week
In the section ‘Project of the week’, Solar Magazine pays attention to a special solar energy project. This week the largest solar park in the Netherlands, realized by Solarfields in Biddinghuizen.
Dorhout Mees solar park will supply the first electricity to the grid at the end of July. At 144 megawatt peak, the solar park realized by Solarfields is currently the largest in the Netherlands and can supply 34,000 households with electricity.
Closed distribution system
The project developer successfully applied for SDE+ subsidy for the project for several years. The project area is part of the Dorhout Mees recreation area. The solar park is bordered on the north by the open agricultural area, and on the west and east by a forest complex. On the south side there is a golf course and nature reserve between the Strandgaperweg de Harderdijk.
A closed distribution system was used for the grid connection of the solar meadow. This solution was set up in collaboration with EQUANS – which operates a private electricity grid in Flevoland. Because of the available grid capacity at the electricity stations, Dorhout Mees solar park and the recently constructed Lowlands solar carport in Biddinghuizen are connected to the system.
Solar park Dorhout Mees from Solarfields in numbers Manufacturer solar panels: Jolywood Number of solar panels: 312,148 pieces Features solar panels: bifacial solar panels with a capacity of 460 and 465 watt peak each Inverters: 478 Sungrow inverters of 250 kilovolt amps and 1,500 volts DC Other system components: 17 Sungrow transformer stations of 6 megavolt-ampere connected to 3 grid connections of the Smart Grid Flevoland (23 kilovolt) Installers: ib vogt, Smart Grid Flevoland and Equans |
Protected medium voltage grid
‘We are working on devising this solar park thanks to thinking that supplies power to all these households’, says Jelmer Pijlman, Solarfields. ‘Problems arise in more places in the Netherlands to supply the generated energy back to the grid. This has the risk that sustainability will be greatly delayed. This innovative solution is a good example of thinking in terms of solutions. We also expect to be able to accommodate elderly passengers in the Netherlands with these kinds of solutions.’
Peter Schillemans Manager Renewable Energy Grid adds: ‘In this specific situation we spare the medium voltage grid, cohesive bite and developments in Flevoland can proceed. This is only possible if various market parties find each other and come up with alternative solutions together, such as the development and expansion of Smart Grid Flevoland, our private power grid. In this way we connect parties and connect energy concepts in a lean way.’