German renewables company WPD has commissioned the 53-megawatt-peak Gerbstedt solar park, marking its first project to link both wind and solar output through a single grid connection point.
The photovoltaic facility feeds power into WPD’s own substation, which already serves the repowered eight-turbine Gerbstedt wind farm. Construction of the solar plant began in February and was carried out by contractor bejulo, the company said.
WPD reported that nearly 90,000 modules were installed across a 54-hectare area and linked through 12 central inverter stations before transmitting electricity to the substation eight kilometres away. The developer said the combined output of the wind and solar assets exceeds the theoretical grid limit, with wind generation given priority while a higher-level park controller manages solar output.
According to WPD, the differing output profiles of wind and solar allow “optimal, grid-friendly use of renewable capacity,” enabling more consistent utilisation of existing infrastructure.
Jan Wyndorps, project manager at WPD, said the hybrid approach had progressed smoothly. “We are pleased that we have implemented our first major hybrid project without any problems and on schedule,” he said. He added that “with the connection of two strong wpd projects to our hybrid substation, we can feed the CO2-free energy into the existing power grid in an economically sensible and efficient way.”
