The surge in energy prices encourages more and more companies to install solar panels on their sites in order to combine savings, independence of supply and reduction of the carbon footprint.
by Olivier Pinaud and Marjorie Cessac
In the region, no one really pays attention to these big ears. There are still a few fantasies on the presence of a secret base buried under these immense white parabolic antennas turned towards the sky. But, since its installation, in 1978, in the Bercenay-en-Othe (Aube) bowl, the satellite station has blew up in the landscape.
The mayor, Jean-Pierre Gitzhoffen, is not unhappy with the presence in his commune of this teleport created by the National Center for Telecommunications Studies to ensure, in the 1980s, transcontinental telephone links . Orange property, the station is still in service.
At its beginnings, more than a hundred people worked there. Protected by forests along the Crête des hills, the site looked like a small village with its counter in the common room and its tennis court, recently dismantled. Since then, the workforce has merge with around thirty employees, but “teleport helps to complete the budget,” smiles Mr. Gitzhoffen.
So, when the mayor learned of the construction of a photovoltaic solar power plant on the 5 hectares of unused Téléport meadows, he saw it as a “proof of duration” for the benefit of his village. The telecoms operator also counts on the benefits of its future power plant, whose commissioning is planned for 2025. With a total power of 5 megawatts (MW), it will ensure 20 % of the electricity needs of the electricity of the electricity Site of Bercenay-en-Othe.
on roof, land or parking
The 4 MW not consumed on site will be reinjected on the electrical network according to a purchase contract concluded within the framework of a call for tenders from the energy regulation commission. The electricity produced by these 25,000 panels will cost a little less than 5 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), half as much as the price currently paid by Orange.
Taking into account the turnover made by the resale of electricity on the network, the cost will even fall to 3.6 Euro cents per kilowatt hour. In total, Orange estimates the energy savings over twenty years generated by the power station at 2 million euros. The operator is all the more attractive since the investment, estimated at 5 million euros, is fully supported by reservoir Sun, a subsidiary of Engie and the investment fund Ardian.
The manufacturer of the power station will be paid on the resale of electricity to Orange and on the network, according to a so -called third party investor model. “We have other sites able to accommodate this type of power plant,” said Michaël Trabbia, director of technology and innovation in Orange. A second should be installed on the old Pleumeur-Bodou (Côtes-d’Armor) teleport, converted since 2006 to the Cité des telecoms.
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