Hemmen (Nederland), 29 September 2023 – Recently, the ‘Zonnepark Hemmen’ was officially opened in the municipality of Overbetuwe, in the Dutch province of Gelderland. With no less than 37,736 photovoltaic panels, the installation accounts for 24.81 megawatt peak of green power, meeting the energy needs of around five thousand households. As the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor, IZEN, the VINCI Energies brand focusing on 100% smart energy, was in charge of building the park.

A 20-hectare piece of meadow along the A15 motorway, between the Betuwe line and the Arnhem-Tiel railway line: that’s where IZEN began construction in September 2022, on behalf of the Zonnepark Hemmen B.V.

Expertise and creativity

“The construction of this solar park posed a lot of challenges: the site is situated alongside a railway line, in addition, it is crossed by a high-voltage line and there are also underground sewer pipes. So, we had to use all our creativity and many years of experience and expertise to overcome these practical obstacles. The harsh weather conditions during construction did not make things easier either. Despite these complicating factors, we were able to successfully complete the project, and the solar park has been operational since mid-April – the results speak for themselves!”, saysTom Van den Oetelaar, project leader at IZEN.

An extraordinary team

“Something I appreciate tremendously is that IZEN has always been very transparent in its communication. I have had the privilege of working with an extraordinary team. The construction went very well and I am proud of what we were able to achieve together”, says Frans Van Lynden, instigator of the solar park for the Zonnepark Hemmen B.V.

As a steward, Van Lynden is in charge of managing estates, footpaths, leased land… Sustainability is central to this, as evidenced by the Solar Park initiative.

Green power for charity

The power generated by the solar farm has been sold to Greenchoice until the end of 2027, which in turn further trades the energy. For the coming years, it was decided to make €50,000 of the proceeds available for local (sustainability) projects on the Hemmen estate (€20,000) and for the benefit of people living in poverty in the Overbetuwe municipality (€30,000), of which Hemmen is part.

Specialised partners

Realising the solar park would not have been possible without the help of these specialised partners: Encon for the technical verification and construction supervision; Enpact for obtaining an SDE++ subsidy, financing, insurance and the power purchase agreement; and the Overmorgen company for the licensing.