BayWa has sold five photovoltaic parks in Germany to Encavis’ Infrastructure Fund 2.
The Barth 3-6 projects on the premises of the Stralsund-Barth Airport and the Seifertshofen solar park between Ulm and Augsburg have a total capacity of around 35MW.
With the exception of the 8.8MW Barth 5, all the projects receive a subsidy under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Barth 5 is the largest unsubsidised solar farm in Germany, currently in operation.
BayWa board member Matthias Taft said: “A year ago we built Europe’s first subsidy-free solar park in sun-soaked Spain. Today, we are able to prove that subsidy-free solar electricity generation is competitive in Germany.
“We experienced a great interest from potential commercial and industrial electricity consumers, as well as from investors, and we are delighted to partner with Encavis.
“Ground-mounted solar installations contribute significantly to the implementation of a cost-effective energy transition in Germany.
“New mid- and large-scale installations are already the cheapest way of producing electricity in Europe. Furthermore, as a recent study shows, they help to improve biodiversity in the country.”
Encavis CEO Karsten Mieth added: “With the completion of this acquisition, we are continuing our positive and close collaboration with BayWa.
“We are particularly pleased that with Barth 5 we purchased a milestone project for the fund, and consequently play our part in a new phase of renewable electricity generation.”
BayWa commenced operations at Barth 5 in October. The generated electricity is marketed through a five-year power purchase agreement BayWa’s trading subsidiary Clean Energy Sourcing.