The major retailer is starting to switch to solar energy in 350 of its car parks in France. The idea is to produce clean, local energy for its hypermarkets and supermarkets.
Carrefour is solarizing the parking lots of 350 of its hypermarkets and supermarkets in France with the help of GreenYellow, player in the decentralized energy transition. This project, which should be completed by 2027, has a total capacity of more than 350 MW, will produce nearly 450 GWh of clean and local energy per year, thus becoming the largest decentralized solar program in Europe.
This contract, lasting 20 years, provides the installation of photovoltaic canopies in the car parks of 90 hypermarkets and 260 supermarkets Carrefour in France, i.e. the solarization of nearly 180,000 parking spaces. This project will cover Normandy, Île-de-France, Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
A turnkey installation
The brand benefits from the third-party financing from GreenYellow which covers its entire investment, thus enabling it to accelerate its decarbonization trajectory and benefit from this transformation into an “as-a-Service” model.
For this major partnership, GreenYellow offers complete support from design to installation and operation of power plants. In addition, the company includes the performance guarantee throughout the contract, in order to offer Carrefour an efficient multi-site deployment.
Carrefour takes the lead
This project meets the obligation to switch to solar energy for car parks provided for by the law on the acceleration of renewable energies and should place Carrefour at the forefront of the solarization of its assets and the decarbonization of its assets. Once deployed, it will also allow the mass retail brand to reduce its dependence on fluctuations in electricity prices thanks to the self-consumption of part of the electricity produced.
The development phase will begin in July 2024, with the first commissioning planned for 2025. Half of the program will be completed by the end of 2026. Once completed, This project will produce 450 GWh of clean energy annually, equivalent to the electricity consumption of a city of 200,000 inhabitants.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
