French winery combines solar carports with EV recharging

Cordier, a winery in Bordeaux, France, is building solar carports at two of its facilities in southern France. The two PV arrays will be tied to 20 EV charging stations.

Image: Idex

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From pv magazine France

French renewable energy company Idex is deploying two solar carports in the parking lots of facilities owned by Bordeaux-based winery Cordier in Languedoc and Gironde, France.

The two carports will use a total of 1,118 bifacial solar modules from Chinese manufacturer DMEGC and 20 EV charging stations.

One of the two projects is nearing completion in Trilles, Département Hérault. The annual production of solar panels is estimated at 631 MWh. The carport will feature 345 W Huawei inverters and eight 22 kW EvBox BusinessLine charging stations.

“With the growing evolution of the French electric vehicle fleet, this is not yet enough,” said Édouard Roblot, director of low carbon buildings at Idex. “But as we always plan for this type of operation, 20% of the spaces are pre-equipped and ready to receive new terminals if necessary.”

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French company VMH Énergies is set to equip the second carport in Cubzac-Les-Ponts, Gironde, with photovoltaic shade structures starting in July. The installation will include 12 charging stations, along with solar panels to be deployed on the ground and connected in the spring. Idex said it chose an “agile,” foldable, and movable structure for the project.

Idex also plans to build at a third Cordier site in Carcassonne (Aude). Cordier will pay a lease to Idex for the installations for a period of 25 years, with 80% of the energy intended for self-consumption.

“It consists of a photovoltaic lease, as in any classic self-consumption operation, and a lease for the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, knowing that the pre-equipment of the terminals represents 80% of its cost,” said Roblot. “Hence the economic interest in oversizing the installation from the start.”

Idex will also resell electricity produced by solar carports to Cordier, at a price deemed “competitive.”

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