German energy solutions provider BayWa will implement a floating-PV plant for German industrial minerals company Quarzwerke at a sand mine site in Haltern am See, Germany.

The company is building the plant on the Silbersee III lake, located adjacent to the plant site. It said that once the plant would produce three million-kilowatt hours of electricity annually, this would save 1,100 tonnes of CO2 each year, according to BayWe.

Additionally, the floating-PV system will enable the Quarzwerke to become "independent of rising energy and CO2 prices", with the surplus green electricity being "fed into the public grid."

Daniel Duric, plant manager at Quarzwerke Haltern, said the new plant showed the company was "investing in the sustainable ecological future" and would be able to "significantly reduce" CO2 emissions.

Stephen Auracher, managing director, BayWa, Power Solutions, said the plant "offers an attractive investment opportunity" for companies in the raw materials industry, which often own idle or only partially used expanses of water.

According to Auracher, these areas "hold immense untapped potential for the energy transition."

"Together with Quarzwerke, we are pioneering the technology with Germany's first subsidy-free floating-PV system and view this as the starting signal for the further adoption of this solar application in Germany," Auracher said.