Ten years after the transformation of the former air base of Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle) into a solar power plant, the same project will be launched twice as large on that of Beauvais (Oise). It has not received any more planes since 2016, even if it keeps operational units. The public utility inquiry starts on Tuesday April 4 and will last a month. The first works should be launched this summer for commissioning in 2025.
The project developed by Photosol, with the financial support of the Banque des Territoires, represents an investment of 130 million euros to build the second photovoltaic park in France according to its designers, after that of Cestas (Gironde), with a production of 200 MW. It will produce the equivalent of the consumption of a city of 85,000 inhabitants. Operation is planned for twenty-six years.
The group does not rule out signing a long-term contract with a company to supply it with electricity, as it has just done with Leroy Merlin. “We are also working on a discount that could be given to local residents on their bill”, says David Guinard, CEO of Photosol.
Administrative complexities
The idea of the Creil solar park germinated in 2019 after the commitments made by the army to free up land to install photovoltaics there. In total, the government’s Place au soleil plan, which dates from 2018, promised to free up 2,000 hectares in five years. We are far from it. “Only about 10% have been released,” we regret at the Syndicate of Renewable Energies.
The context is nevertheless, in certain aspects, favourable. “This project does not encounter opposition from local residents, unlike wind power, even if it takes a lot of time to explain it”, explains François Morenc, the vice-president of the community of communes of the Pays d’Oise and Halatte.
The soldiers present on the spot see only advantages. “We are going to collect rent, it is positive in terms of image and at the end of the contract we will recover a completely depolluted land”, says Colonel David Sécher, who commands the Creil base.
But the task is heavy because the ground is strewn with shrapnel, because of the bombardments of the Allies during the Second World War on the tracks just built by the Germans.
Reduced dimensions
The slowness in setting up the project is also explained by the protection of biodiversity, because even on wasteland the environmental constraints are strong. “Nature quickly reclaims its rights”, emphasizes David Guinard, recalling that the project, initially designed on 153 hectares, was reduced to 105 hectares to preserve as much natural grassland as possible.
According to him, the decrease in space does not call into question the economy of the project, despite less sunshine of 25 to 30% in the north of France, compared to the South. «A lot of progress has been made in the performance of the equipment, and we are lucky to be able to connect to the RTE network which is 9 km from the base”, notes the boss of Photosol.
Protect Meadow Pipit
Preliminary studies have shown the presence of many species of birds, including a red kite hunter. But what caused the most concern to the Photosol teams was the discovery of around sixty meadow pipits, a ground-nesting passerine bird whose population has fallen sharply in France in recent years.
Several commitments have thus been made, in particular the creation of reserved spaces over 140 hectares, the planting of hedges and the installation of perches. Construction work in the park will be stopped between March and July 2024 so as not to disturb the nesting period. For the meadow pipit, a monitoring committee will be set up to check the good health of the colony, with an exhaustive census.