2.5 MW photovoltaic system installed on greenhouses in Montélimar

Can an organic farmer improve his profitability thanks to solar energy? Absolutely.

TRITEC FRANCE recently installed a turnkey photovoltaic system with a capacity of 2.5 MW on an organic greenhouse with installation partners GPVL and SUDELIO. After two years of technical development and six months of on-site installation, the 40 000 m² PV plant will produce 3 GWh per year. This corresponds to the electricity needs of 2 000 people or the avoidance of 81 kg of highly radioactive waste that would be produced in 30 years by the same nuclear energy.

For an optimal yield on the greenhouse, the 13 440 modules were custom-made with transparent TEDLAR film. They are connected via 230 kilometres of cable to 4 central SMA inverters.

When the system was handed over, the TRI-KA characteristic curve measuring device developed by TRITEC made it possible to check and prove that the operating performance of the system corresponds to the theoretical value communicated by the manufacturer.

In addition to the technical performance on the photovoltaic side, new knowledge for the operation of greenhouses could also be gained through this project. The organic farming company AGRIVOLT, in cooperation with an organic agricultural engineer, conducted large-scale trials in a partially shaded environment over a period of two years. Several plant species have shown promising results under these conditions.

With this installation, TRITEC is also paving the way for a new economic model. This is because the production of organic products in France is subject to strong fluctuations in yield. In fact, the yields per hectare without pesticides vary from one harvest to another. To compensate for these fluctuations in turnover, the regular income generated by the solar roofs generates a reduction in the organic farmer's fixed costs and a positive operating result - even in poor harvest years.