Urbasolar wins two project commissions in Army tender!


The group was awarded two commissions during the invitation to tender launched by the French Defense Ministry in Sept. 2019. An integral part of the “Place au Soleil” Plan, the aim of this initiative is to convert military property into solar power plants and thereby help speed up the deployment of solar energy.

 

The two projects are for ground-based power plants in the towns of St Christol (Vaucluse) and Balan (Ain), with output of 5 MWp and 3.5 MWp. Located on a parcel of land measuring 5.5 hectares, formerly used as a missile silo (St Christol) and a piece of military waste ground measuring 4.6 hectares (Balan), the two plants will come online in 2023.

35 candidates submitted bids for this call for tender.

New tenders are set to be launched by the Defense Ministry, covering a total of 2,000 hectares through to 2022.

This initiative, launched last year, is now taking on a new significance.

The period we are currently going through brings with it new questions about the nature of our energy landscape and what we want it to look like in the future. The resulting need for resilience has brought to the fore a heightened need to protect health as well as the environment and the economy. It seems obvious that solar energy, with its intrinsic virtues – zero carbon, local production, cheap and digitalized energy – will be a major pillar of the energy revolution that we need to bring about. In this context, Urbasolar is supporting local communities and administrators in the implementation of local projects involving the rehabilitation of disused “brown field” sites, in partnership with local politicians and public administration. The rehabilitation of the AZF site in Toulouse, in partnership with the City Council and Electricity Board, is currently being finalized and represents a further example of this.

The fact that Urbasolar was awarded projects in the Defense Ministry tender, involving a demanding and rigorous selection process, is once again proof of the group’s skills and the quality of their proposals. With this award, public administrators have once again demonstrated their confidence in Urbasolar as a trusted partner that delivers on their commitments.

In total, Urbasolar holds a portfolio of development projects covering 1.7 GWp, mainly in France and Europe.

Photo credit : Urbasolar