Neoen has won 15 new ground-mounted solar projects for a total of 222MW in the latest calls for tenders issued by the French government’s Energy Regulation Commission (CRE).
In the “ground-mounted” category, the projects ranging from 3.3MW to 42.2MW and are in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Centre Val-de Loire, Grand Est, Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France, Normandie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions.
Construction of these projects is expected to start between 2024 and 2025.
Among these, 12 photovoltaic projects will contribute to the redevelopment of disused industrial sites.
For instance, the Lambrun (13MW, Loire-Atlantique) and Lézignan (15.9MW, Hérault) solar farms will be built on ancient quarries, and two other solar farms will be erected on prior landfill sites.
Meanwhile, in Essonne, Neoen will build a 42.2MW solar farm, the largest of the Ile-de-France region, on a former air force base.
In addition, over 25% of the capacity awarded are agrisolar projects: Ferme de Bord (30MW, Haute-Vienne) and Fère-Champenoise (30MW, Marne).
These projects will combine sheep farming and renewable electricity generation on the same site.
In the tenders Neoen also won two solar canopy projects with a combined capacity of 16.9MW which will be installed on car parks, one at the Ainterexpo exhibition center in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) with a capacity of 3.3MW, and the other at Lieu Saint Amand (Hauts-de-France) with a capacity of 14MW.
Construction is set to begin for both plants before the summer of 2024.
Guillaume Decaen, French Development Director of Neoen, said: “I would like to congratulate our team and thank the local communities that have placed their trust in us.
“Once again, we have been ranked among the top winners, repeatedly showing our ability to bring projects to fruition and strengthening our partners in the choice they made to get involved with us to see the projects successfully completed.
“This latest achievement takes us past the 2GW milestone for assets in operation, under construction or projects awarded in France, which bolsters our position as the country’s leading independent renewable energy producer.”