May 17, 2006—GE Energy Financial Services, PowerLight Corporation, and Catavento Lda announced April 27 that they are building the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power project.
The 11-megawatt solar power plant, comprising 52,000 photovoltaic modules, will be built at a single site in Serpa, Portugal, 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Lisbon, in one of Europe’s sunniest areas.
GE Energy Financial Services will finance and own the facility in a $75 million transaction. PowerLight, a global solar power system provider, designed and will operate and maintain this solar power plant employing the company’s innovative PowerTracker system, which follows the sun as it moves across the sky. Catavento, a Portuguese renewable energy company, developed the project and will provide management services.
The project–on a 60-hectare (150-acre) southern-facing hillside that will remain productive farmland—is scheduled for full power operation by January 2007. Material deliveries have begun, and construction will commence in May.
The project is expected to be Portugal’s first large photovoltaic installation to go online.
With no fuel cost or emissions, the Serpa solar installation will produce electricity sufficient to power 8,000 homes and save more than 30,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions compared with equivalent fossil fuel generation, says GE.
