Photovoltaic panels as far as the eye can see. The former military base of La Martinerie now has nothing to do with its original destination. Of the 250 hectares of this former military site, 100 are now devoted to sports shooting with the famous CNTS, the national sports shooting center where the events of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place. More than 70 ha host 157,500 photovoltaic panels including the cumulative power reaches 70 MWp (megawatt-peak).
After the Blueberry park, the BayWa re company built Greenberry, which has been in service since the end of April. These two parks now produce the electricity supply for more than half of Châteauroux Métropole.
Three to four visits per year organized on the site
Tuesday June 25, BayWa re representatives presented four educational panels now installed at the heart of the La Martinerie site, to allow visitors to learn about the park, photovoltaic production, local biodiversity issues and the past. history of the site.
“Since the first park was put into service, we have organized three or four visits per year, explains Marine Hiver, communications manager at BayWa re In particular via the Factory Secrets operation set up by the Indre Attractiveness Agency, but also schools and technical colleges. »
These four panels were produced in partnership with the ONF Vegetis which provided the French wooden structures. Each of them has a theme linked to the site dedicated to the production of photovoltaic electricity. The key figures are presented, the technical transformation of solar energy, the environmental measures applied here (protection of orchids, shelters for reptiles, hives, sheep), as well as the geographical evolution of the La Martinerie base and his history.
Jean-Jacques Bérenguier, president of the Les Amis de La Martinerie association, in front of the window where the 250 kg bomb found on the site of the former military base now sits.
© Photo NR, P.-Y.R.
This last panel was designed with the help of the Friends of La Martinerie, an association for preserving the memory of this military camp which has existed since 1915. This military past of the land required pyrotechnic decontamination before work began.
During this cleaning, many objects were found (firearms magazine, ammunition) now exhibited in the Departmental House of Military Memory.
A 250 kg bomb
Among these finds, a 250 kg bomb was exhumed in 2023. It comes from the American bombing of Saturday February 5, 1944, when 588 bombs were dropped on the base in order to render the runway and hangars unusable. “It’s a great discovery, assures Jean-Jacques Bérenguier, president of the Friends of La Martinerie. It was found near the athletics track, which means that nearly 300,000 conscripts were likely to walk on it. »
The explosive device now sits in one of the museum’s display cases. “The La Rochelle deminers came to collect it and they detonated it on their base, continues Jean-Jacques Bérenguier. Usually, they don’t give back this type of item but the manager thought it would be better here. One of our volunteers took care of cleaning it. »
The Departmental House of Military Memory has thus enriched its collections which are visible every Wednesday. Free entry.
