French renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) Neoen has announced a solar power purchase agreement (PPA) for its 139 MW agrivoltaic project in France with a unit of French national railway company SNCF Voyageurs, SNCF Energie.
Owned 100% by Neoen, the agrivoltaic project will combine renewable energy with sheep farming. The site includes a farmhouse, hay barn/shearing area and sheepfold for the use of a farmer who will use 150 hectares as grazing land.
"The park will be home to 700 sheep and 1,000 lambs, supporting farming in Haute-Vienne while producing green, low-carbon electricity to power trains," said Neoen's French Development Director Guillaume Decaen. The company says 2 apprentices will be trained in the particularities of raising sheep in an agrivoltaic park.
SNCF Energie was incorporated to supply green energy to the trains operated by the parent company. It will offtake 100% of the electricity produced by the Le Couret agrisolar farm for a period of 25 years.
Electricity produced at Le Couret will cover the equivalent of the annual supply for the high-speed Paris-Marseille line. SNCF Energie's President and Director of the Ecology and Energy Transition at SNCF Voyageurs, Olivier Menuet shared that this PPA inches it closer to the target of 20 PPAs for a total of 1.1 TWh of renewable sourced electricity.
Neoen targets to begin construction on site in 2026 having secured requisite authorizations and grid connection for the project. It will be commissioned in 2028.
Neoen will also sell the guarantees of origin produced by the agrivoltaic facility in Haute-Vienne soon after its commissioning. The French IPP says the project will be advanced on its develop-to-own model.
It will be the company's 2nd largest asset in France and the largest solar park operating under a PPA with SNCF, says Neoen. The latter initiated the project's development 5 years back.
This PPA for an agrivoltaic project adds itself to a growing list of such contracts in France that shows this segment has secured a nod from the country's corporate sector.
Recently, another French renewable energy group VALOREM's agrivoltaic project landed a 20-year contract with an agri-food company. Earlier this year in March 2024, Qair announced an 18-year PPA with yeast manufacturer Lesaffre for its agrivoltaic facility (see Solar Power Purchase Agreement For French Agrivoltaic Project).