The Paris-based solar project developer Greenyellow will build solar carports on 350 car parks belonging to the Carrefour food chain. This has been agreed by both companies. The projects will be built on car parks in front of Carrefour supermarkets and hypermarkets in the provinces of Normandy, Île-de-France, Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
Realisation phase has begun
The realisation of the first project is scheduled to start in July of this year. The first plants should be ready by the beginning of 2025. Greenyellow plans to complete at least half of the planned projects by the end of 2026. "We are now entering the project phase, in which we are finalising the development, selecting technical partners and creating an ecosystem for project implementation," explains Mathieu Cambet, who is responsible for the implementation of photovoltaic projects at Greenyellow.
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In total, the generators in Carrefour's car parks are expected to produce 450 gigawatt hours of clean electricity every year. Greenyellow will not only plan and build the systems, but also operate them. This also includes a contractual performance guarantee for the generators.
Reducing the CO2 footprint
In this way, 180,000 individual parking spaces in front of Carrefour's supermarkets and hypermarkets will not only be shaded. The food retailer can also use more self-generated solar power, for example for cooling products or air conditioning the individual stores. In this way, the company can significantly reduce its CO2 footprint. With this ambitious project, the company is taking on a pioneering role in the solarisation of its own properties and the decarbonisation of its real estate, emphasise the project partners.
Fulfilling legal requirements
Carrefour is also fulfilling the legal requirements of the solar obligation for car parks, which applies in France for such areas with a size of over 1,500 square metres. However, the project also enables Carrefour to become less dependent on fluctuating prices on the electricity market through the self-consumption of solar power from the car parks.
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"We are very proud of the long-term partnership with Varrefour for this unprecedented large-scale project," emphasises Otmane Hajji, President of Greenyellow. "This emblematic project reinforces our commitment to supporting major French and international companies on their path to energy independence."
Switching to green electricity by 2030
After all, the solar installations on Carrefour's car parks will reduce grid consumption and help the company to switch the stores' energy supply completely to green electricity by 2030, as Romain Butte, Managing Director of Greenyellow, emphasises. In addition, the photovoltaics will provide shade and thus increase the attractiveness of the stores for customers by protecting them from the sun and rain. (su/mfo)
