The 8.2 MW power plant is one of the projects won by Voltalia during the 2013 national solar tender. The plant will be located in the city of Alleins, in Bouches-du-Rhône.
In accordance with the call for tenders, one half of the plant will be equipped with high-efficiency photovoltaic modules (4.09 MW); the other half (4.09 MW) will include concentrating photovoltaic modules with a tracker system following the sun’s path. Unlike commonly used photovoltaic panels, lenses on the panels concentrate sun rays on high performance cells, hence optimizing the use of the solar resource.
The commissioning of the new plant is expected by Q2 2018 at the latest.
A project in line with Voltalia’s strategy and mission
The construction of this new power plant is in line with Voltalia’s approach to make the most of local energy resources. The selected site, already heavily anthropized, is located on a former quarry.
Voltalia has chosen to equip the fixed part of the Carrières-des-Plaines plant with SunPower high performance E-Series solar panels which are among the most efficient on the market. SunPower, a majority-owned subsidiary of Total SA, will produce the majority of the solar panels in its French facilities. “We’re pleased to support Voltalia by supplying a total of 18.3 MW of high efficiency solar panels for this new power plant as well as two other solar facilities in the region[1], as announced in July.”, says SunPower Executive Vice President Peter Aschenbrenner.
“Our three solar plants currently in construction in France, totalling 2.8 MW, demonstrate our teams’ ability to use best-in-class technology. This allows us to enhance both the efficiency and the reliability of the future plants, which is key in a long-term investment perspective”, says Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.
[1] Canadel and Castellet II solar plants. See press release dated July 7,2017
About Voltalia (www.voltalia.com)
• Voltalia is an international player in renewable energies, and a multi-source electricity producer (wind, solar, hydropower and biomass with an installed capacity of 501 MW) and provides services to third party customers.
• Voltalia is established in 15 countries on 4 continents and has a global capacity that is at the service of its clients.
• Voltalia has been listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris since July 2014 (FR0011995588 – VLTSA) and has entered the Enternext Tech 40 index in April 2017.
