France to build 4 photovoltaic power plants

A private-public partnership has been signed between the Syndicat Départemental d'Energie et d'Equipement de la Vendée SyDEV, INEO, and Régie d'Electricité de Vendée La ReVE for the financing, development, construction and maintenance for 20 years of a 15-megawatt MW solar photovoltaic park to be built in the Pays de la Loire region of France.

The park will consist of four plants in the cities of La Roche-sur-Yon, Avrillé, Givrand and Talmont-Saint-Hilaire at the site of former waste-treatment facilities. The plants will be constructed on areas convering a total area of 20 hectares. Of this, 10 hectares will be used for the installation of 64,000 panels: 25,000 in La Roche 11,500 in Avrillé 11,500 in Talmont and 16,000 in Givrand.

Construction permits are expected to be granted in June 2011, and construction kick off is scheduled for November of that year.

The park will generate 16 gigawatt-hours GWh per year that will be supplied to the regional grid, reducing CO2 emissions by about 4,600 tons per year.

SyDEV is a public entity that represents 282 villages in energy-related matters.

La ReVE was created in 2002 for the generation of renewable energy. INEO is a GDF Suez division that specializes in the installation of electrical systems for industrial facilities and is a major consulting company for photovoltaic solutions.