Opening of Europe's Largest Bifacial Solar PV Plant in the Netherlands

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd.(NYSE: YGE), one of the world's leading solar panel manufacturers, today announced that on June 9th, 2017, Tempress Systems B.V., part of the Amtech Groupcelebrated the opening of Europe's largest bifacial PV solar plant of close to 400 kilowatt-peak (kWp) capacity in the Netherlands, using n-type PANDA Bifacial modules manufactured by Yingli Solar. The plant is located next to the headquarter of Tempress in Vaassen, the Netherlands.

In contrast to standard monofacial modules, PANDA Bifacial modules generate electricity from both sides. As the rear side makes use of the reflected light from the surroundings and of diffuse light, the modules can yield up to 30% more energy compared to the situation when it only generates from the front side, depending on the circumstances. It is expected that the annual energy production of the bifacial PV plant will exceed 400 MWh.

The facility contains 1428 PANDA Bifacial n-type silicon modules with a nominal peak power ranging from 275Wp to 280Wp each. They contain solar cells based on the n-PERT technology jointly developed by Yingli Solar, Tempress Systems and ECN.

The bifacial modules have a glass front side and a glass rear side with a 30-year-linear warranty exceeding the life time of standard modules. The PANDA Bifacial modules have been independently tested for harsh environmental conditions such as exposure to salt mist, ammonia and known potential-induced degradation (PID) risk factors. The modules are equipped with n-type crystalline silicon solar cells which perform better under low light conditions than regular p-type cells.

The innovative PV plant has been developed in cooperation with Sparkling Projects and has been engineered by Schulz Systemtechnik BV who also did the installation. The modules are mounted on a fixed rack, which was specially designed for bifacial modules to optimize the rear side performance and are produced by Benz Alusysteme GmbH. Each module is equipped with micro inverters from APsystems Inc. to ensure optimal energy generation and monitor the performance of each module.

This project was granted with a SDE+ subsidy from the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs to encourage the production of renewable energy in the Netherlands. Sebastiaan Masselink, independent advisor to the renewable energy industry, arranged the debt financing for this bifacial PV-solar project, which will be provided by sustainable lender ASN Bank.