The Vlagtwedde project in Westerwolde was initiated by PowerField and has been developed in conjunction with Solarcentury, which will construct and maintain the project for the final owner and investor, Impax.
The 110 MW solar farm will be made up of almost 350,000 panels and will cover an area of 100ha. In total, it is expected to produce enough power for approximately 30,000 households.
A blueberry farm has been planted on a further 24ha adjacent to the solar farm. The blueberry farm is designed to ensure proper integration of the solar farm within the surrounding landscape and provide employment opportunities to the local population in addition to the solar farm.
Impax’s Hector Boyce, who is also director of Zonnepark Vlagtwedde, said: “We are excited to be making our first investment in the Netherlands. Not only is this investment supporting the Netherlands’s transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources through the creation of the country’s largest solar farm, it is also creating employment opportunities and supporting biodiversity in the local area. The project has been developed in close cooperation with local parties, and we look forward to making further investments in the Netherlands.”
Solarcentury Benelux general manager Evert Vlaswinkel added: “Once completed, this solar park will generate 104,000 MWh annually and save more than 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 over the course of its lifetime.”
PowerField chief financial officer Jean Louis Bertholet said: “We have been working on the development of Solar Park Vlagtwedde since 2016. With 110MW this is the largest concrete solar park in the Netherlands. 20 hectares of blueberries have been planted for the landscape integration of the solar park and employment in the municipality of Westerwolde. The size of the blueberry cultivation in combination with the solar park makes this a unique project. Soon, more than 30,000 households will be supplied with green electricity every year and more than 180,000 kilos of blueberries will be grown. A great example of how the generation of sustainable energy and landscape integration go together.”
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