Shallow gabion foundations enable solar plant deployment on archaeological site

Spanish EPC contractor Ijes Solar is constructing a solar park in area with archeological interest for Total Energies in France.

The Les Brandes solar park is located in the municipalities of Ménesplet and Montpon-Ménestérol in France’s Dordogne department. The 8.9 MW ground-mounted solar plant occupies 9 hectares.

The project received its building permit in 2023, construction began in September 2025, and commissioning is scheduled for summer 2026.

A key feature of the project is its location on a site containing archaeological remains, identified during a survey carried out by France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) in September 2024. The discovery required the developer to adopt construction methods designed to preserve the site’s archaeological layers.

Conventional pile-driven or excavated foundations were ruled out because of the risk of disturbing buried archaeological remains. Instead, the project uses shallow gabion foundations to support the photovoltaic mounting structures without deep excavation.

The gabions are installed on a gravel bed, distributing loads across the surface while providing structural stability. Because the system is fully reversible, it can be removed in the future without significantly disturbing the underlying soil.

“The construction of the Les Brandes solar power plant marks the completion of a project launched in 2017 on previously undeveloped land,” said Anne Frederic, project manager at TotalEnergies Renewables France. “The plant will generate enough renewable electricity to meet the annual consumption of nearly 3,500 households. We have also launched a crowdfunding campaign to allow local residents to invest in the project and share in its economic benefits while supporting the energy transition in the region.”