PV open-space solar plant on the A7: Municipality to lease key plot

A solar power plant capable of supplying electricity to approximately 1,050 households is planned for construction directly adjacent to the highway in Niestetal-Sandershausen. The municipal council will decide on the project’s approval on December 3.

Niestetal – A new ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) plant is planned for Niestetal-Sandershausen, located directly next to the A7 motorway. The facility is intended to be built on a site of approximately 2.5 hectares above the Obelweg, within a strip roughly 100 meters wide running along the motorway corridor up to the Ellenbachstraße. The elevated PV modules will have a total grid connection capacity of 3,800 kilowatts.

On average, this plant is expected to generate approximately 3,800,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which theoretically could supply around 1,050 households. The project also includes a battery storage system with a storage capacity of 13,440 kilowatt-hours. The generated electricity is intended to be fed into the higher-level power grid. The municipality of Niestetal would receive business tax revenue from the operation of the plant, as the operating company is planned to have its registered office in Niestetal.

Decision between agricultural land or a PV open-space installation

BLG Solar Projekt, a photovoltaic company based in Wolfhagen, is acting as the installer and one of the investors in the project. Once the facility is completed, it is planned to be operated in cooperation with Andreas Schneider from Niestetal. Schneider is a former employee of EAM who, since his retirement, has been advocating for the construction of a large-scale ground-mounted solar power plant in Niestetal.

The project was first presented to the building committee a few days ago. According to the information provided, the planning process is already relatively advanced. As BLG Solar Managing Director Christoph Lübcke stated, the majority of the site has already been leased. The current focus is on securing a 25-year lease for a specific sub-plot located precisely in the center of the site, which is currently held in reserve by the Hessian Land Society (HLG) for the municipality of Niestetal. This requires the approval of the Niestetal municipal council, which is scheduled to make a decision on the matter during its session on Thursday, December 3. One point of criticism that the Niestetal parliamentary groups are still discussing is the consumption of agricultural land by the solar farm.

“No disruptive reflections for road users on the highway”

Lübcke, whose company has implemented numerous solar PV ground-mounted installations across Germany, particularly in northern Hesse, justified the investment. He stated that solar PV ground-mounted installations are significantly more efficient in terms of energy yield compared to agricultural land used for growing energy crops, such as corn for biogas production. “One hectare of land equipped with a solar PV installation generates approximately 60 times more energy than one hectare of land used for growing energy crops,” Lübcke explained to the construction committee. Due to the significantly higher efficiency of solar PV, agricultural land that would otherwise have been used for energy crops is freed up for food production.

If the municipal council gives the green light on December 3 to lease the HLG site, it would still take approximately two years before construction of the ground-mounted photovoltaic plant could begin. Lübcke stated: “We would immediately begin commissioning the necessary expert assessments in the coming year, so that a building permit application could be submitted by the end of 2027.” Lübcke emphasized that, despite the installation of the ground-mounted photovoltaic plant, there would still be sufficient space to construct a noise barrier directly along the highway. “Provisions will also be made to ensure that the modules are positioned in such a way that they do not cause disruptive reflections for road users on the highway.” After the 30-year lease period expires, the photovoltaic plant can be completely dismantled. “Specific reserves will be established for this purpose.”