Benquet, an agrisolar project, won by Neoen during the last governmental call for tenders, represents a power of 15.6MWp.
Integrated production
The agrisolar project of Benquet will be located in the Landes in New Aquitaine. The call for tenders of the Commission de Régulation de l’Energie (CRE) concerns building-based power plants. These are greenhouses and agricultural sheds and parking lot shades with a power greater than 500kWp.
Neoen is developing this project in partnership with a duck farmer. Indeed, the company has been working for years with the agricultural world, in particular through eco-pasture projects. Its projects already include more than 900 hectares of vegetation maintained by sheep on its solar power plants in France.
It launches its first agrisolar power plant with a capacity of 13.5MWp in Bioule in Tarn-et-Garonne in June 2022. Since then, nearly half of the company’s projects in France have included an agricultural component. Guillaume Decaen, Neoen’s Director of Development France, says:
“Among all the types of projects we are developing in France, we want to give a central place to agrisolar. These photovoltaic power plants, designed with the farming community in mind, enable us to support the development of sectors such as livestock breeding in France. As a long-term player, we ensure farmers a long-term partnership in line with our country’s energy transition objectives: to produce green, competitive, sovereign energy that is integrated into the territories.”
Animal welfare
Neoen designs all its projects in close collaboration with the farmers, the local Chambers of Agriculture and the territory, the company puts animal welfare at the center of its approach. Neoen is thus the first French developer to sign a large-scale partnership with the Fédération National Ovine (FNO).
The company now also maintains a close collaboration with the Institut de l’Elevage (IDELE). Thus, the agrisolar project of Benquet includes photovoltaic shades. The project will allow the creation of new outdoor spaces for ducks.
Shades provide shelter from the weather or heat. They also facilitate the passage of agricultural machinery. Neoen has announced that it is making agrisolar energy its main area of development in France.
