Nancy: French energy giant EDF is building
the world`s biggest photovoltaic solar power plant at an
abandoned NATO air base and plans to have it open by 2012, a
spokesman said on Tuesday.
Jean-Marc Dall`Aglio, of EDF`s green energy subsidiary
EDF-EN, said the 415 hectare site in Toul-Rosieres, near the
eastern city of Metz, would produce 143 megawatts, enough for
a town of 62,000 people.
The current largest photovoltaic plant is at Olmedilla in
Spain, producing 60 megawatts. Several much larger plants are
under construction in the United States and Australia and
might beat the French contender.
Toul-Rosieres will quadruple nuclear-dependent France`s
photovoltaic power output, but still leave it far behind sunny
Spain and Germany, which generate 1,671 MW and 1,505 MW
respectively.
Dall`Aglio said it was difficult to find sites large
enough for the huge arrays of solar panels needed to generate
a viable amount of power, insisting that EDF was always
looking for more.
Asked why the latest one was to be sited in cloudy
Lorraine rather than the sunny south, he said that the state
had decided to increase the tariff paid to solar energy
producers in gloomy regions to encourage investment.
PTI
