Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund will jointly build two large solar parks in the municipality of Midden-Groningen. The solar parks are close to each other and together, with a total capacity of 112 MWp, they virtually form the largest solar park in the Netherlands. The development of both solar parks started several years ago but the parks will be built separately. What the solar parks have in common are the grid connection and owners.

Today, the financing has been completed for Energiepark Duurkenakker (64MWp). The solar park is located in the Tussenklappenpolder near Muntendam, will be approximately 44 ha (88 football fields) and will consist of more than 160,000 solar panels. The park will provide enough power for 20,000 households. The project is financed by Commerzbank and Goldbeck Solar will build it. Construction will take approximately 6 months and the project will supply first power to the grid in October / November this year. The project was developed by Sunvest and Solar Proactive. Triodos Renewables Europe Fund recently joined as a financial partner. Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund will build and operate the project together.

At the end of last year, Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund also took over the Zuidbroek solar project from developer Van der Valk International. Zuidbroek Energie (48 MWp) is 39 ha in size and will contain approximately 120,000 solar panels. The generation capacity of the park equals  the electricity consumption of 15,000 households. Zuidbroek Energie is located along the A7 and next to the Van der Valk hotel Zuidbroek. Zuidbroek Energie is expected to be built in 2021/2022 as additional grid capacity must first be built in the substation at Meeden.

Rene Hanssen, director Sunvest: “We are very happy with this result. The development of Energiepark Duurkenakker was particularly complex due to the continuously changing environment with the construction of wind turbines and the nitrogen factory. Another special feature is that a large wind turbine will be located in the middle of the solar park, making efficient use of the location for the generation of sustainable energy.”

Vincent van Haarlem, Fund Manager Triodos Renewables Europe Fund : “In good cooperation with Sunvest, we can now enable the construction of these leading projects. With more than 280,000 solar panels,  the realization of these solar parks is an important step towards the generation of more sustainable energy in the Netherlands and as such, an important contribution to catalyzing the much need energy transition.”

In December 2020, Triodos Renewables Europe Fund was renamed Triodos Energy Transition Europe Fund.