"We are delighted that we now have the privilege of building a large-scale photovoltaic plant for LHI in France. We made a conscious decision for the French solar market by establishing our subsidiary in Lyon, and we will be operating in this market in both the components and systems and the power plant business", commented Ulrich Reidenbach, Chief Sales Officer of Phoenix Solar AG.
The solar park will be built at around 650 metres above sea level on a surface area of approximately 4.4 hectares, which is about the size of six football pitches. Phoneix Solar calculates that the array will have an anticipated annual energy yield in excess of 2 million kilowatt hours, enough to supply more than 500 French households with clean electricity.
La Rouchouse Solar Park is the first project that Phoenix Solar has developed with a partner in the region, while the company reveals that more solar projects with this project developer are in the pipeline.
As general contractor, Phoenix Solar will be responsible for the planning, delivery and construction of the solar park. Construction work is due to start before the end of March, and completion has been scheduled for July. Phoenix Solar will then take over the maintenance and operation of the power plant.
As all the necessary official approvals had been secured at an early stage, electricity fed into the grid will be compensated by energy utility EDF based on the feed-in tariff valid in 2010, which is 33.91 euro cent per kilowatt hour in this region.
"We have the greatest confidence in the abilities of Phoenix Solar AG. The company's experience of more than a decade in building large-scale photovoltaic power plants makes it the ideal partner for us. It worked very well in Germany and so we are pleased to be going to France together", stated Franz Unterbichler, head of Renewable Energies at LHI.
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