Repowering after the storm

After Storm Domingos destroyed most of the Ychoux 2 solar plant in France’s Landes region in November 2023, owner and operator Photosol rebuilt the facility using higher-capacity equipment.

Ychoux 2 is part of a three-project solar complex comprising Ychoux 1, 2, and 3, developed and operated by Photosol in partnership with the municipalities of Ychoux and Parentis-en-Born. The plants are located within a 1,600-hectare municipal forest on land affected by Storm Klaus, which devastated large areas of forest in 2009.

Following Storm Domingos, maintenance teams from Photom Services secured the site and assessed the damage. Photosol Mobexi then dismantled the damaged equipment, while photovoltaic modules that could not be reused were sent to French PV recycling company Soren. Reconstruction was completed within a relatively short timeframe to limit production losses while meeting environmental and regulatory requirements.

As part of the reconstruction, Photosol installed new mounting structures and higher-power PV modules. According to the company, the repowering project doubled the facility’s installed capacity without increasing its physical footprint.

Once all three plants are operational, the complex will have a combined capacity of 77 MW and an estimated annual generation of 97 GWh.

“The challenge was to carry out this repowering quickly to limit financial losses while complying with environmental and regulatory requirements,” said Arthur Van Belleghem, construction project manager at Photosol, in a company video.

Photosol said the project is its first repowering initiative of this scale. The company expects similar projects to become more common as aging PV assets require modernization and as operators respond to damage caused by extreme weather events.