French PV companies set up agrivoltaics association

From pv magazine France

French solar companies Sun'Agri, REM Tec, Kilowattsol, and Altergie Développement et Râcines have announced the creation of France Agrivoltaisme, the world's first trade body for the agrivoltaics sector.

“France is the ideal promoter of this cutting edge technology,” the association said. “The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has contributed since 2019 to the development of this solution by including agrivoltaic projects in its tenders.”

In addition, French environmental agency Ademe has sought to define agrivoltaics and has outlined guidelines for its deployment.

The association aims to promote agrivoltaics by prioritizing solutions with a strong agricultural impact. It aims to represent the sector and wants to define and defend the interests of its members.

“Like any emerging sector, agrivoltaics must be structured to allow sustainable development and encourage practices favoring the improvement and resilience of agriculture,” said Antoine Nogier, the founder of Sun’Agri and the president of France Agrivoltaisme.

Nogier said the first objective is to make the authorities aware of the need to support agrivoltaics.

“In particular within the framework of CRE tenders and agricultural aid – in particular, those of the EU Recovery plan for the adaptation of agriculture to climate change,” he said.