Urbasolar: Experts in self-consumption


SNCF, Carrefour, VICAT… have all chosen Urbasolar to deliver their solar self-consumption projects in France and around the world.

Flagship projects

In October 2019, France’s national railways, SNCF, inaugurated its new technicenter at Romilly (high-speed TGV parts maintenance center) with a staff parking lot fitted with self-consumption solar parking canopies. These 260 covered parking spaces provide 17% of the building’s electricity.

In the same year, Carrefour and Urbasolar announced a partnership aimed at accelerating the energy transition of hypermarkets owned by the supermarket chain. 36 stores were then selected to be fitted with solar parking canopies in their parking lots producing a total of 21,000 MWh of electricity for self-consumption. The first of these projects is already in operation and producing electricity to power the stores.

In Senegal, an entire cement plant will be powered by a ground-based solar plant producing 7 MWp, currently under construction for SOCOCIM Industries, a subsidiary of the VICAT group.

Hospital Complex in Carcassonne, Bioplanète, ONEA (National Water and Sanitation Office) in Burkina Faso, Red Land Roses in Kenya, Guadeloupe Caribbean Airport – some of the numerous projects delivered by the group, making Urbasolar a recognized expert in self-consumption.

Innovating to meet the needs of our clients

Each self-consumption project is the subject of a meticulous study, carried out by Urbasolar’s engineering teams, into how much electricity can be saved for the client. Through its R&D programs in partnership with academic institutions and top-level industrial players, Urbasolar is developing new solutions which can optimize self-consumption through means such as controlling consumption according to solar power generation forecasts and innovative energy management strategies adapted to the actual uses the electricity is being put to by our most energy-hungry clients.

Made-to-measure legal and financial arrangements

Depending on the requirements and constraints expressed by our clients, Urbasolar tailors its operations by offering investment offset opportunities and equipment constructed according to a site’s complexity, including all type of solar applications (ground-based, parking canopies, roof-top installations), connection methods, contracts, through to analyzing the impact of a client’s photovoltaic assets on their balance sheet.

Whilst this new energy generation model is just getting started in France, it is already at cruising speed in some countries and Urbasolar shows once again that our expertise, our ability to delivery innovative and custom-made solutions, as well as high-quality installations, is greeted with the utmost satisfaction by our partners.

Figures on self-consumption in France:

> 35 MWp : output of plants above 36 kWp at end 06/20 (Enedis)
> A figure which is set for a 10-fold increase by 2025 according to a recent study by Les Echos

SNCF solar parking canopies at Romilly – Photo credit: Urbasolar