44 MW PV Park Online In Netherlands

• Solarcentury has brought online the 44 MW Budel Solar Park in the Netherlands, which has Germany's Encavis as majority shareholder
• Located next to the industrial area of Metalot, near the city of Eindhoven, the project has come up on a landfill site
• It is a joint initiative of the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, the commune of Cranendonck and Solarcentury

UK based solar power project developer Solarcentury has officially commissioned a 44 MW solar power plant in the Netherlands on land previously used by Nyrstar zinc smelter.

Co-owned by German renewable project developer Encavis AG as the majority shareholder and Solarcentury holding a minority stake, the 44 MW Budel Solar Park is one of the country's largest, said Solarcentury.

Budel Solar Park is located near the city of Eindhoven next to the under-development metals and energy industrial area of Metalot. It is a joint initiative of the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, the commune of Cranendonck and Solarcentury. Covering an area of 120 football fields, the 44 MW plant uses 154,000 solar panels and was built over 5 months.

In November 2018, Germany's ib vogt GmbH switched on 54.5 MW Scaldia Solar Park in the country calling it the largest in the Netherlands (see 54.5 MW PV Project Comes Online In Netherlands). A lot of ground-mounted projects have been added to the country's grid within few weeks of each other. China's Chint commissioned its second PV project with 15 MW capacity in Medemblik municipality also in November 2018 (see Chint Commissions 15 MW Project In Netherlands).

Chint has also secured approval to start construction on a 103 MW solar power plant in Midden-Groningen region.

SolarPower Europe believes Netherlands will contribute 1.3 GW of new PV in 2018 to the overall projected capacity addition of 12.6 GW in Europe (see 12.6 GW PV Forecast For Europe In 2018).