The projects have been developed and are owned by the French renewable energy company Photosol and are being constructed in France’s Auvergne and Midi-Pyrénées regions. Three of the plants, with a total capacity of 37MW, are located in the communes of Dompierre sur Bresbe, Gennetines and Marmanhac. A fourth plant, with a capacity of 11MW, is being built in Sarrazac. The engineering company Jayme da Costa Energie, which has been a longstanding partner with Photosol since 2011, is providing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services for all four projects.
“As France actively promotes the adoption of solar energy, these projects will contribute towards the country's efforts to diversify its energy mix” said David Guinard, Managing Director of Photosol. “We expect these projects to make a significant local impact by providing communities with clean energy and contributing significantly to Europe's CO2 reduction goals. Our choice of First Solar's thin-film modules was based on a combination of cost-competitiveness, unrivalled bankability, the ability of its modules to reliably deliver solar power and the fact that the technology has the smallest carbon footprint, with the fastest energy payback time.”
The plants have been designed to have a minimal impact on local communities and ecosystems. Three of them are situated on pasture land, thereby allowing the landowners to continue using the site for grazing. The fourth plant is located near an oak forest incorporates access considerations for wild animals.
Photosol is based in Paris and was founded in 2008. The company has developed solar plants with a total capacity of 63MW across France and has a project pipeline that exceeds 250MW. The four power plants are the largest ever undertaken by the company and also mark the first time it has partnered with First Solar. The projects also enable the company to exceed 4GW total installed capacity in Europe, representing the equivalent of electricity from four nuclear power plants and powering an estimated 1 million homes.
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