The energy company and the agricultural cooperative have formed a partnership to “meet the challenges of agricultural and energy transitions”.
This Tuesday, April 23, TSE, referent for agrivoltaics in France, Dijon Céréales member of Alliance BFC, and the SCEA des Tours inaugurated a new agrivoltaic canopy, in Verdonnet in Côte-d’Or (21).
This inauguration concretizes a virtuous agrivoltaism, allowing the complementarity of agricultural and energy production, desired by all the parties involved in this project in anticipation of the regulations. The recent decree of April 8, 2024 sets the regulatory framework for agrivoltaism, allowing the development of local projects with all stakeholders – the agricultural world, project leaders and local elected officials – and at the national level. contribute to the energy and agricultural sovereignty of our country.
An agricultural canopy of organic large crops
At the origin of the project, the SCEA des Tours, a farm with 4 partners (Jean-François and Adrien Cortot, Hervé and Pierre Lallemant) who seek to innovate and adapt their profession to new environmental and climatic constraints.
Farm crops are affected by climate change. Strong temperature variations, long periods without water, very rainy or hailstorms impact cereal yields and plant growth.
Designed by TSE, as part of a co-development partnership with Dijon Céréales, a member of Alliance BFC, the agrivoltaic canopy installed on this site is a self-supporting system of photovoltaic panels which, while producing electricity, protects crops from thermal and water stress, such as destructive climatic episodes such as hail.
This installation, with a production capacity of 2.4MWp, was installed on an area of 3 hectares with large organic crops and will help to avoid the emission of 1,648 tonnes of CO2 per year, while representing the equivalent in production electricity, the annual residential consumption of approximately 1450 people.
The first results concerning the crops sown for the first campaign are encouraging, with, for the wheat varieties sown (Rubisco and Energo) in organic production, an increase of +14% compared to the control plot neighboring the agrivoltaic power plant. .
“This canopy fits perfectly into the philosophy of our farm, that is to say the construction of a sustainable agricultural system, which meets the challenges of diversification of production, economic performance of the farm while respecting the environment. This is the opportunity to develop a new energy production activity, linked to the installation of the new generation of our children on the farm” explains Jean-François Cortot, operator of SCEA des Tours.
TSE and Dijon Céréales join forces for an ambitious partnership
Beyond the inauguration of this new canopy, it is a broader ambition that drives Dijon Céréales, member of Alliance BFC and TSE, with the signing of a long-term partnership. The latter perfectly illustrates this common desire to innovate and cooperate to meet the challenges of agricultural and energy transitions. For TSE, working in close collaboration with an agricultural cooperative means validating the agronomic relevance of its products while ensuring thoughtful deployment of its agrivoltaic solutions in the territories.
“This partnership, which we are very pleased to sign today, illustrates our commitment to sustainable agriculture and a successful energy transition. This is an ambitious agreement, with a vision of deploying 700MW in seven years, revealing the capacity for anticipation and action of Dijon Céréales and Alliance BFC to shape the future of agriculture and agri-food on its territory” declares Mathieu Debonnet, president of TSE.
“Verdonnet represents a sustainable and reproducible model, with, I am convinced, tangible and positive impacts on the agricultural and local economy. The agriculture of the future must emerge from the regions, respecting farmers, promoting decarbonization and food and energy sovereignty, while innovating. The installations carried out by TSE with the Alliance BFC cooperatives in Burgundy-Franche-Comté are a concrete example of this,” underlines Didier Lenoir, president of Dijon Céréales and Alliance BFC.
“The partnership with TSE, initiated more than three years ago, includes an experimental phase with the Alliance BFC R&D team, to evaluate the performance of crops under the canopy. The second axis consists of developing installations based on TSE technology with the members of our three cooperatives. Our priority is to find solutions to support and develop farmers’ income in the face of climatic hazards. Agrivoltaism offers a real opportunity in this perspective,” concludes Christophe Richardot, general manager of Dijon Céréales and Alliance BFC.
Communicated
Agnès Pannier-Runacher discovers a solar installation which “offers new opportunities for the agricultural world”
“Photovoltaic energy makes it possible to deliver a stable income,” assures Agnès Pannier-Runacher
“If we want to be able to continue producing, we have to diversify,” believes Vincent Lavier
Mathieu Debonnet, president of TSE and Didier Lenoir president of Dijon Céréales and Alliance BFC (TSE photographs)
