Another milestone achievement in the construction process of Europe’s biggest bifacial solar park: After having extensively prepared the 450 ha. project site with racks and frames, juwi Hellas installed the first rows of photovoltaic (PV) modules at the Kozani solar park in Northern Greece – almost half a million more will follow within the next months.

“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on the construction site we are still on schedule”, says Takis Sarris, managing director of the Greek juwi subsidiary. “The plant is scheduled to be connected to the grid by February 2022”, Sarris continues. It will then be handed over to the future operator Hellenic Petroleum Group.

The Kozani solar park is currently one of Europe’s biggest bifacial solar parks. Bifacial PV modules use solar energy on the front and back of the module. This makes them more efficient and ultimately means that more electricity can be generated in the same area. The concept is not new, but the technology has recently been further developed so that it is not only more efficient, but also less expensive compared to conventional PV modules. Since the modules can also convert reflected and diffused light into electricity, they achieve an additional electricity yield of up to 10% compared to conventional modules. In case of the Kozani solar park, the additional yield is up to 5%. Takis Sarris: “Solar energy is already the cheapest form of electricity generation in Greece. The technology with bifacial modules reinforces this development again. In this way, we can generate more electricity in less space at even lower costs."

After its completion the Kozani solar park will deliver more than 300 million kWh of climate-friendly electricity a year – enough to supply 75 000 Greek households with clean electricity. The investment volume is €136 million.

Kozani is located approximately 120 km south-west of Thessaloniki in the north of Greece.