Valeco begins construction of 19.8 MW floating PV plant in France; R.Power raises €30 million from Eiffel Investment Group; TotalEnergies achieves 500 MW B2B solar capacity; Joab to build SEK 12 million solar park in Sweden; Engie and Schott sign RE PPAs; ib vogt’s Malaysia solar plant online.
Valeco constructing floating solar plant in France: French renewable energy company Valeco has started construction of a 19.8 MW floating solar power plant in Durance region of France. It is coming up on 28-hectare artificial lake created as part of the sandpit extraction activity of the Sibelco company that owns the land. Part of German energy company EnBW, Valeco said the project will be equipped with some 46,000 floating solar panels covering 55% of the lake surface. It will be grid connected via Nerac substation. “This floating solar park project, which is one of the first parks developed in France, makes it possible both to optimize a degraded site and to contribute, on our scale, to increasing the share of carbon-free energy in our energy mix,” said President of the Community of Communes of Coteaux et Landes de Gascogne Raymond Girardi.
€30 million for Poland’s R.Power: Eiffel Investment Group has agreed to loan €30 million, with an option to increase the same to €40 million, to a subsidiary of Polish solar PV projects developer and independent power producer (IPP) R.Power. The subsidiary R.Power Investment B.V. will use the proceeds to finance its growth in foreign markets and construct PV parks in European Union (EU) countries as Portugal, Italy and Poland. “The financing agreement with Eiffel Investment Group is another big step in our international development. Importantly, this is the first financing of the R. Power Group in euros and, thanks to the natural hedging, allows us to reduce the exchange rate risk,” said R.Power Group CEO Przemek Pięta.
TotalEnergies achieves 500 MW onsite solar milestone: France’s TotalEnergies has achieved the milestone of 500 MW onsite B2B solar distributed power generation in operation. This capacity is now installed at 300 industrial and commercial sites for its customers in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US. By 2023, it aims to scale up this operational capacity to 1 GW.
Joab invests in Dalsland’s largest solar park: Truck and heavy equipment supplier Joab says it will invest SEK 12 million in building the largest solar park in Swedish province of Dalsland in Dals-Rostock, outside Mellerud. It will generate over 1 million kWh annually which can account for the entire annual consumption of Joab’s production facility including painting facility it operates. It will then produce as much electricity will solar power as it consumes with this climate neutral production facility.
200 GWh RE PPAs signed by Engie: France’s Engie has executed 2 corporate power purchase agreements (PPA) with German glass maker Schott Group for 200 GWh of renewable energy supply. Both the PPAs will come into force in 2023 and run for 3 years. One of the agreements is related to 6 German solar farms that came online between 2017 and 2020. The other relates to a wind farm, also operating since 2021. Engie said the contracts are based on an innovative model under which Schott will receive a continuous supply of green energy (baseload structure) with physical delivery from precisely allocated plants and the corresponding certificates of origin.
ib vogt’s 116 MW project online: Germany’s ib vogt says it has commissioned 116 MW Coara Marang Solar Project in Malaysia with its joint venture (JV) partners Coara Solar Sdn Bhd. The project is now grid connected to the national grid in Marang, Terengganu, and is contracted under a 21-year PPA with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). The facility is ib vogt’s largest project built or developed by the German company in the region to date and also the 1st elevated tracker system with bifacial solar modules in Malaysia. It was awarded under 3rd round of Malaysia’s Large Scale Solar (LSS3) of Suruhanjaya Tenaga or Energy Commission of Malaysia in 2019.
