The megawatt solar roof at the new Munich Trade Fair Centre – an advanced and successful new concept for PV plants in the megawatt range

Large PV plants built in recent years are based on existing components and a system technology which has remained basically unchanged or been modified only slightly. If this could be referred to as further development, it could only be in minor details. The megawatt plant at the new Munich Trade Fair Centre [E. Cunow, B. Giesler, P. Hopf, G. Maier, One megawatt photovoltaic plant at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre – the worldʹs largest PV rooftop plant, Proceedings of the Second World Conference and Exhibition on Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversion,Vienna, Austria, 1998, pp. 2472–2475] represents a significant advance in large PV plant technology – both in terms of system technology and the components employed, operational control and costs. A particular highlight is the very high-performance ratio in the first-half of 1999 of 84%. The plant has been operating successfully since Spring 1998.