The solar plant is spread across in an area of 180 hectares and is claimed to be the largest in France. It consists of 300,000 solar panels and 50 electricity transformer stations at two sites, Vallongue and Coteau du Rousset.
It is expected to generate 128GWh of clean electricity per year, which is enough to meet the needs of 85,000 people, excluding heating, and help offset about 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere annually.
Inauguration of the plant took place on 27 September in the presence of Mayor of Gréoux-les-Bains in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department.
France plans to triple its solar capacity by 2023, while Engie is aiming at reaching an installed capacity of 2.2GW over the next four years.
Recently, the French company partnered with UAE-based investor Abraaj Group to develop a wind power platform in India.
The companies claim to have identified around 1GW of wind power projects in pipeline across several states in the country.
As per estimates, demand there is expected to grow at a rate of 9% year-on-year until 2020. The Government of India had set out a target of creating 60GW of wind power capacity by 2022, which requires doubling of the present capacity of 32GW over the next five years.
The Engie-Abraaj partnership aims to tap this demand.
Image: Engie‘s French solar farm can generate electricity for 85,000 people. Photo: Courtesy of ENGIE Group.
