this business school installs solar panels on its roof

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The snowfall made it impossible to gain height to drown in its blue-black reflections. No matter, the Essec photovoltaic power plant, perched on the roofs of the prestigious Cergy-Pontoise business school, was at the heart of all the conversations and all the attention on Thursday, November 21.

And for good reason. The one whose inauguration we celebrated is the first citizen photovoltaic power plant in Val-d'Oise. Citizen because it is the work of the O'Watt Citoyen collective born in 2019 “to encourage the participation of citizens in renewable energy production projects”.

“Electric revolution”

Made up of 770 solar panels, the device, operational since 1^is October, has a production capacity of 340 kW. It will cover 12% of the electricity consumption of the higher education establishment installed in Cergy-Préfecture for a little over fifty years. And save 70 tonnes of CO2 per year. “We are proud to be the driving forces behind this locally produced electric revolution,” enthuses Patric Kruissel, president of the O’Watt Citoyen cooperative.

“This plant is fully in line with Essec’s ecological transition strategy,” continues Vincenzo Vinzi, general director of the business school. This demonstrates our desire to act to limit our environmental impact and our ambition to reduce our electricity consumption by 40% by 2030. »

Solar power in Cergy and beyond in the Paris region? It is possible according to Yann Wehrling, vice-president (Positive Ecology) in charge of Ecological Transition in the Île-de-France Region. “Solar power can be used everywhere, that’s good, in Ile-de-France, we have a lot of roofs that we can use. » Proof that the community believes in this renewable energy, it financed 50% of the 380,000 euros investment necessary for the development of the Essec solar power plant.

“It’s a project that was not easy to set up, we had to support O’Watt Citoyen to move from saying to doing,” recalls Marc Denis, vice-president (Eelv) in charge of the Ecological and Energy Transition at the Cergy-Pontoise agglomeration. There is still a long way to go. We must move from drunkenness to sobriety. »

A path towards even more solar power which will take O'Watt Citoyen to Pontoise and the leisure island of Cergy-Pontoise. The cooperative is working on the installation of 500 solar panels on the roofs of the Maradas sports hall and 13,000 panels in the parking lots of the city's green lung. Solely yours.

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