RWE has commissioned a 14MW solar plant at the Hambach opencast mine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The 12-hectare site near Niederzier features more than 22,000 modules with capacity to supply 4500 households a year.
Construction was completed in less than five months, with artificial intelligence used for the first time to monitor progress via drone imagery.
RWE said the project is its third solar park at Hambach, where it already operates two plants totalling 47.2MW, including one with an 8MW battery.
Chief executive of RWE Renewables Europe & Australia Katja Wunschel said: “Thanks to the tremendous dedication of our team, we were able to commission the new plant near Niederzier ahead of schedule.
“It is important to us to get the people in the region on board – for example by involving the neighbouring municipalities. Our collaboration with the Neuland Hambach organisation is a case in point.”
Local municipalities represented by Neuland Hambach GmbH have the option to take a share in the new plant.
RWE said it now operates eight solar parks in the Rhenish region, four of them with battery storage, as well as nine onshore wind farms.