GE, Gehrlicher Solar partner to develop 1 MW community solar park

GE, Gehrlicher Solar partner to develop 1 MW community solar parkGeneral Electric’s (NYSE: GE) splash in the renewables market is looking more and more like a cannonball—a big huge cannonball.

This week, the company announced that it partnered with Gehrlicher Solar, a German company, to pursue development of utility-scale projects throughout the world, and that the partnership’s first project is a 1 megawatt, community-owned solar park in Aschheim, Germany, that will be completed in August.

The company recently announced a new hybrid solar natural-gas generator design—the natural gas generator itself is designed to integrate with renewable energy sources—and is narrowing down where to locate a new 400 megawatt thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the U.S.

In addition, GE recently announced that it’s producing the most efficient wind turbines available, and the company said it already has 25 gigawatts of renewables in the field producing electricity.

The community solar farm is the first of many projects that GE will undertake with Gehrlicher, GE said in a press release.

“As one of the 10 largest independent photovoltaic project developers, Gehrlicher Solar has long-term international experience in the construction and operation of solar power systems of all sizes,” GE said.

While the first project is relatively small, the companies will soon develop larger projects, said GE spokesperson Emily Caruso.

“There will be utility-scale projects in Europe and in the emerging markets where solar’s really taking off,” she said. “Gerhlicher brings a lot to the table especially in terms of their experience in Europe and how fast they’re growing. So they’re a good partner for us.”

The modules being used in the solar farm are GE’s copper iridium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaics produced in Japan. The company already can field projects up to hundreds of megawatts with its CIGS modules, Caruso said.

But the company will also soon start producing cadmium telluride-based thin-film photovoltaics in the U.S. Under the partnership with Gerhlicher, the companies can choose which technology will be better for the location and based on the timing, Caruso said.

As GE ramps up its renewable energy efforts, it’s likely going to look for more project partners.

“We’re pursuing a variety of different options, working with developers to get projects in the ground,” Caruso said. “[Gerhlicher is] very big, and they’re growing, but there are a lot of different developers out there.”

Image courtesy of GE.