The 3D image of the future Peyssies solar power plant in Haute-Garonne. - Urbasolar

  • Construction work on Occitania's first solar power plant has started in the commune of Peyssies, in Haute-Garonne.
  • These floating photovoltaic panels are installed on old quarries that have been filled with water.
  • It will supply the energy equivalent of the consumption of nearly 1,300 homes and will be commissioned next year.

At the end of last year, a photovoltaic power plant was inaugurated in Lapeyrouse-Fossat. Its particularity: to have been built on an old landfill. In a few weeks, it will be the turn of the 35,000 panels installed on the former AZF site to enter into service.

In the same spirit, it is on an old exploited and clean-up site that the first floating solar power plant in Occitania will emerge. Construction work started at Peyssies, in Haute-Garonne, where former quarries once stood.

[SOLAR POWER PLANT] https://t.co/5ihvgmLxPy @TlseMetropole @ Urbasolar1 #solaire #energytransition

- URBASOLAR (@ Urbasolar1) January 7, 2020

After putting the site back in water, the commune of southern Toulouse, owner of the land, decided to launch a call for projects to develop it into a place for producing green energy. Urbasolar was chosen and therefore launched construction work this month. “They will stop at the end of February and resume in June in order to respect the site's environmental constraints. Commissioning is expected in the first quarter of 2021, "said the company.

The town of Peyssies in the Haute-Garonne department. - Maps4News

In order for the project to see the light of day, it had to ensure that these photovoltaic panels would not disturb aquatic life. A technique already implemented in Vaucluse, in Piolenc where the largest floating solar power plant in France was inaugurated at the end of last year.

Crowdfunding

This installation, which has the advantage of not consuming land, one of the regular criticisms made against solar power plants, will provide the energy necessary for 1,300 homes. By the end of summer, residents of the region will be able to participate in the financing of this installation of 400,000 euros as part of a crowdfunding operation.

This installation is not the only one of its kind in the pipeline, Urbasolar therefore carries two other solar power plants in the department: one in Carbone and one in Salles-sur-Garonne.

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  • power plant
  • Photovoltaic
  • electricity
  • Planet
  • Toulouse
  • renewable energy
  • Solar energy