Voltalia begins work on two solar plants totaling 14.2 MW in southern France

French wind and solar project developer Voltalia has started construction on two solar plants with a combined capacity of 14.2 MW in southern France.

The company said that both projects are located in the region of Var, and that these were awarded a 20-year FIT contract in the auction CRE III held by the French government in late 2015.

The largest project will be located in Brignoles and will have a capacity of 10.4 MW, while a second 3.8 MW plant will be installed in Castellet, close to another solar facility built by the company in 2013. Both projects are expected to be connected to the grid by the end of this year, in accordance with the terms of the call for tender.

Both installations will rely on the E-Series modules provided by U.S. manufacturer SunPower Corp., whose largest shareholder is French oil giant Total.

Including these two projects, the company’s cumulative installed capacity has reached 36.2 MW. Voltalia has also deployed another 4.5 MW in French mainland, 4.5 MW in French Guyana, 7.3 MW in the U.K., 4.7 MW in Greece and 1 MW in Portugal. The wind power capacity installed by the company at the end of the first quarter of this year was 432.2 MW.

Voltalia claims it currently has 2.7 GW of renewable energy projects in development and that it aims to install 1 GW by 2019. In January, the company announced the start of construction of its first PV plant in Brazil, a 4 MW power plant located in Oiapoque,in the State of Amapa.