Neoen has been awarded over 104MW of solar projects in the latest call for tenders issued by the French government’s Energy Regulation Commission (CRE).
The four developments range from 14.4MW to 30MW and are 100% owned by Neoen.
The plants are expected to be commissioned between 2025 and 2028. Once operational, the four photovoltaic power plants will produce the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of at least 50,000 people in France (heating included).
In Geloux (Landes), where Neoen has been operating a 7.2MW solar farm since 2014, the local authorities have entrusted Neoen to develop a second 14.4MW solar farm on forestry plots belonging to the municipal council.
The three other winning projects are agrivoltaic parks and will combine sheep farming and solar power generation on the same site.
The 30MW Brisanne solar farm in Mayenne is one of the first agrisolar schemes in the department. It will safeguard the sheep farming activity and allow the creation of a second full-time farmer job.
Annual monitoring of the site will be handled by the Institut de l’Elevage (IDELE), with whom Neoen has been working for several years now.
In the 30MW Villegongis project, 60 hectares of land will be used by a sheep farmer with a flock of around 250 sheep. Neoen has also signed a partnership with the Naturapolis agricultural college in Châteauroux to promote agrivoltaism and offer young farmers the chance to work on the agrisolar projects in its portfolio.
Lastly, in Rechicourt-le-Château in Moselle, the 30MW agrisolar site has been developed by Neoen since 2019, working closely with farmers, local authorities and experts from the Fédération Nationale Ovine.
French development director of Neoen Guillaume Decaen said: “This latest achievement testifies to the quality of our projects and, more especially, to the relevance of our agrivoltaic model developed since 2017.
“I would like to thank our team for their tremendous work, which has helped us secure half a gigawatt in French government tenders this year.
“This is a record for Neoen in France, and it is most certainly a record in France for an independent developer. We intend to continue our winning ways in the coming years!”