A solar park in a class of its own

Sunny prospects: STRABAG building photovoltaic megaplant in Austria

20 football pitches – that’s the size of the state-of-the-art solar park built by STRABAG on behalf of Wien Energie. This makes the solar power plant in Ratten in eastern Styria one of the largest of its kind in Austria.

The plant, which is able to generate around 15 MW of photovoltaic electricity, is expected to cover the annual energy requirements of around 5,000 households in the surrounding area. Our job, among other things, was to install an impressive 26,488 photovoltaic panels at the site. Stacked on top of each other, they would reach around 800 metres high – almost three times the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Everything at a glance:

XXL solar park

From private solar panels on a balcony to an extra-large solar park like the one in Ratten, photovoltaic systems are basically built in the same way. The big difference is that a 14-hectare solar farm requires immense quantities of materials. This, in turn, calls for a well-organised supply chain and an efficient logistics management with the various subcontractors. The size of the plant ensures that a lot of electricity is produced but poses an enormous challenge during construction.

The steel substructure on which the PV panels are installed was custom-made by STRABAG Metallica Stahl- und Fassadentechnik GmbH especially for the megaproject. We also laid several metres of cable and installed five transformer stations to reduce the electrical voltage generated and make it usable for consumers. Forty-two inverters transform the system’s direct current into alternating current before it arrives at the socket.

Concentrated power: hybrid power plant combines wind and solar

The completion of the photovoltaic park in Ratten is also the starting signal for a new hybrid power plant. A wind farm already exists on a nearby ridge and in the future the two energy producers will coordinate with each other to more effectively utilise the electricity generated together.

So the location of the photovoltaic park was not chosen at random. The nearby wind farm already feeds electricity into the public grid, which allowed us to save important resources during construction.

Designing and building a solar park

At STRABAG, we want to help shape a sustainable future. Projects like the Ratten solar park are an important lever in the energy transition. The project is also an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of electricity from solar farms. “There’s no more effective way to utilise a site like this than for the production of renewable energy,” says project manager Ewald Müllner.

The collaboration of four Group entities enabled us to realise the project along the entire value chain. With our collective expertise, we are in a position to build large solar power plants such as the one in Ratten entirely from a single source, from the installation of the substructure and the civil engineering works to the turnkey construction of the plant itself.