Germany's biggest solar park inaugurated

Germany's largest solar park, and the world's second biggest, was inaugurated on Thursday on the site of a former Soviet military training ground in the east of the country.

The Lieberose park south of Berlin covers 162 hectares (400 acres), the equivalent of more than 210 football pitches, and is due to be fully operational later this year, organisers said.

German companies have been at the forefront of solar technology although this year they have begun to suffer heavily at the hands of Asian competitors, particularly from China, who can produce much more cheaply.

Germany is counting on renewable energies like solar and wind to meet its international commitments on reducing carbon emissions and to enable it to stop using nuclear power by 2020.

The amount of power produced at Lieberose shows the scale of the challenge -- it will produce enough for 15,000 homes, compared to the 6.5 million households supplied by the Biblis nuclear plant in western Germany.

The world's largest solar park is in Spain.

(c) 2009 AFP