German officials have opened a 78-megawatt portion of what they say is now the world’s largest solar PV park.

Saferay’s 78-MW plant on former open-pit mining areas near Senftenberg in eastern Germany was completed in three months. The plant includes 330,000 crystalline solar modules and 62 central inverter stations.

An 18-MW development was completed by Phoenix Solar in 2010 and a 70-MW project commissioned in August was built parallel to the Saferay installation and includes common infrastructure. In all, the solar park has a capacity of 166 MW.

Berlin-based Unlimited Energy has developed the project with a particular focus on preserving nature and its habitat: “We preserved large areas of land between the installations to develop breeding space for birds and other animals alike“, says Managing Director Torsten Käsch.