OMV uses solar energy to mitigate CO2 emissions in plant

Austrian energy company OMV has started up its ground-mounted photovoltaic plant with solar tracking in Lobau, the company said on Monday.

OMV said it has invested around EUR 4.5 million in the facility, predicting it will save around 2,100 tons of CO2 per year.

“A total of nearly 10,000 photovoltaic modules and more than 50 inverters were installed. The renewable electricity is fed directly into the OMV grid and covers with 7 GWh, around 45 percent of the annual energy demand of the OMV Lobau tank farm,” the company said in a statement.

It said that the solar panels are equipped with bifacial modules. “These are ‘two-sided’ cells that can use the reflected light also via the back of the panel. This increases production efficiency by another 5 percent compared to single-face solar cells,” OMV explained.

The companies said that through his solar-tracked photovoltaic plant, they will be able to “sustainably” cover another part of their energy consumption through solar energy.