SunPower Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA), a silicon solar-cell company and a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., announced that German solar photovoltaic module manufacturer SOLON AG has opened phase one of what is claimed to be the world’s largest solar electric plant in Bavaria near Arnstein, Germany. Solarpark Gut Erlasse is a 12 MW solar electric plant located in a working agricultural field, which can serve the electricity needs of thousands of customers each year.
SunPower’s solar cells are used in SOLON’s "Mover" electricity generation system, designed for deployment in multi-megawatt solar power plants. Movers automatically tilt and rotate during the day to directly face the sun at all times. By combining SunPower’s A-300 solar cells with the Mover’s ability to maximize daily energy production, each square foot of solar cells can generate up to double the annual energy of a fixed solar array using conventional solar cells. At Solarpark Gut Erlasse, SunPower’s cells are used in about one-third of the Movers, but generate a higher proportion of the energy at the Solarpark.
