Acting for the energy transition
Project: AGRICULTURAL GREENHOUSES – PHOTOVOLTAIC
Sector: Photovoltaic / Location: France (Aimargues)

Project display
Construction of 32 agricultural greenhouses with photovoltaic roof in the municipality of Aimargues, Gard.
These 32 greenhouses will house field crops full of organic vegetables (tomatoes, strawberries, watercress, melons, fine herbs …).
This project represents a double challenge:
- Generate solar energy while developing organic farming.
This technology will allow farmers to increase their production period, which for some vegetables can be extended throughout the winter. Maximizing the performance of market gardeners is therefore one of the main objectives of this project.
The types of plantations will be:
• Tomatoes • Strawberries • Watercress • Melon • Fine herbs
Production
3298
kWp
Details
Location: Route de Nîmes, 30470 Aimargues
Reason: 32 agricultural greenhouses (680m²) x 99.75 kWp
Purpose: Organic Farming (Fruits, Vegetables)
Power: 3,298.86 kWp
EDF purchase price: 12.61 € / kWh
Hours of sunshine / year: 1336 h
Economic balance sheet
Connection Enedis: 800 000 € excl.
Optimized productivity: 1336 KWh / KWc / m² / year
Annual production: 4,395,252.96 KWh
Annual income: 600 000 € excl.
Installation costs: € 5,500,000 excl.
Total amount of the investment: 7 000 000 € HT (all engineering and fees included)
Annual maintenance: 15 000 € excl.
Rent amount: 0 €

Executive planning
Project managers: ECOTECNIC company
Provisional start of works: June 2017
Commissioned (Consuel deadline): November 22, 2017
Security of purchase rate
For each of the 93 projects:
T0 = 20 May 2016 -> Price Q2 2016 <100kWc = 12,61 € / kWh
Particular attention has been paid to ensure that the decree of 4 March 2011 is particularly respected, without any ambiguity with regard to EDF OA. This one stipulates that: “According to the peak power of the installation, denoted by P and expressed in kW, and the peak power of all the other installations connected or planned on the same building or the same parcel cadastral, denoted by Q and expressed in kW, a coefficient D is defined as follows: If P + Q is less than or equal to 9 kW, then D = 1”
So, for this project:
Each greenhouse is a separate building and separated from the others.
Each greenhouse is located on a specific plot
Type of greenhouse
Calculation based on the following standards:
- Euro code EN 1990: Basic design of the structure
- Euro code EN 1991: Actions on structure:
- EN 1991-1-4: Wind load
- EN 1991-1-3: Snow load
Calculation of the greenhouse with CASTA:
- EUROPEAN Standard EN130331-1: Greenhouses, Appendix E.4: France
- NF EN13031: Snow Zone B2, Wind Zone 3
- Base wind speed: Vb50 = 26.0 m / s with Cprob 15 years: Vb = 23.6 m / s
- Snow load characteristics: Sk = 550 N / m² on the ground (50 years)
Calculation of the greenhouse with CASTA:
- Services: 70 N / m²
- Crop costs: 0 N / m² (winter crop load 0 N / m²)
- Hanging gutter charges: 0 N / m²
Area
That is a total area of 25,746.2 m² of photovoltaic material, representing:
– 2022 tons of CO2 avoided per year
– The annual energy consumption of 4884 inhabitants