From pv magazine France
The good news keeps coming for Neoen. The solar and storage project developer, valued at €6.1 billion ($6.56 billion) after Brookfield's recent friendly takeover bid, has secured a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SNCF Energie, a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, for 172 GWh of renewable electricity per year. Construction of a 139 MWp greenfield solar park will commence in early 2026, with commissioning planned for 2028.
The Le Couret power station in Haute-Vienne, southwest-central France, will integrate sheep farming and electricity generation. It will provide land for 700 sheep and 1,000 lambs on 150 hectares, along with a farmhouse, hay barn, shearing area, and sheepfold for farming operations. Two apprentices will be taught about the specifics of raising agrivoltaic sheep at the site.
The PPA will reduce SNCF Voyageurs's electricity costs, mitigating market volatility. The 172 GWh of annual generation will meet the needs of its Paris-Marseille TGV link or its Transport Express Régional (TER) service in Occitanie or Normandy.
“We are approaching our target of 20 PPAs for a total of 1.1 TWh of renewably sourced electricity,” said Olivier Menuet, president of SNCF Energie and director of the Ecology and Energy Transition at SNCF Voyageurs. “The partnership with Neoen underpins our progress and makes it a reality.”
SNCF Voyageurs said it aims to achieve 40% to 50% renewable energy – including 20% from corporate PPA contracts – in its mix of electricity consumption for train traction by 2027-28.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.