OX2 will be selling a 23 MW agrivoltaic project to CVE in France; Berliner Stadtwerke is building the largest rooftop solar system in Berlin for Messe Berlin; Menlo Electric raises financing from HSBC Continental Europe; Power China is part of a 150 MW Serbian solar plant; Arkolia Energies signs CPPA with Bonduelle.
Agrivoltaic project changes hands in France: Renewable energy developer OX2 will sell a 23 MW agrivoltaic project in France's Loiret region to local independent power producer CVE. The facility is OX2's maiden agrivoltaic project and its 1st sale in the country that will be realized in Q4/2023. It will include fixed tilt solar panels over land that's grazed by over 300 sheep. CVE is in charge of construction and commissioning of the project by Q1/2026 when it will generate around 29 GWh annually.
Berlin's largest rooftop solar system: Trade fair organizer Messe Berlin has hired Berliner Stadtwerke to build around 8.5 MW installed solar PV capacity on 20 rooftops of the former's exhibition center in Berlin. The duo claims it to be the largest rooftop solar system in Berlin and the 3rd largest in all of Germany. They are buying modules with around 7% higher performance and adding additional roofs since the contract was signed in November 2022. With this, the entire project will be 40% more efficient than in 2022, they add. Altogether, the system will generate close to around 7.3 GWh of green electricity annually of which 80% will be used for captive consumption of the site and remaining 20% will be fed into the grid. Messe Berlin will procure electricity from Berliner for 25 years under a system leasing model.
The project partners will make most of the current drop in module prices as they say the €6 million project 'will not be subject to inflation due to the lower module prices' (see China Shipped 17.3 GW Solar Modules In August 2023).
Financing for solar distributor: Poland-headquartered solar PV products distributor Menlo Electric has secured an undisclosed credit facility with HSBC Continental Europe to expand its business in 37 markets across the EMEA region. The company, which supplies products from well-known names like JinkoSolar, Tongwei, Sungrow, JA Solar, Fox ESS and SolarEdge among others, is focused on expanding further internationally.
Power China for Serbian project: Serbian region of Bela Palanka is to host a large-scale solar power plant with up to 150 MW capacity. The local administration recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AVR SOLAR PARK ISTOK and Power China for the project. It is expected to enter construction in 2024. Current plans include expanding it up to 500 MW in the future, according to the office of the Bela Palanka Municipality President Goran Miljković.
Solar power for agri-food company: French agri-food producer Bonduelle has signed a corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) for solar power with local renewable energy company Arkolia Energies. The latter will supply 13 GWh/year of power from a project with over 10 MW installed capacity in Gironde (33) for Bonduelle sites at a fixed price for over 20 years. The contract is supported by the Garantie Electricité Renouvelable fund, recently created and operated by Bpifrance that aims to facilitate CPPAs in France.