Progressively commissioned between May and September 2021
This official inauguration marks the culmination of a large-scale project built on 155 hectares of land. With construction beginning in June 2020, today the Marville plant contains approximately 364,000 solar modules, some equipped with innovative bifacial technology. With a total installed capacity of 152MWp (Megawatt-peak), the plant generates approximately 160 GWh per year, equivalent to 90% of the annual consumption of the city of Verdun.
The plant was developed in partnership with the company Enerparc AG, which is building and owns the Eastern half. For TSE, the Western half of the plant was commissioned in May 2021. The Eastern half was commissioned in early September 2021.
Installed on a former NATO military base used by the Canadian Air Force from 1955 to 1967 and bought in 2006 by the Communauté de Communes du Pays de Montmédy, the plant’s design draws on numerous studies which evaluated the environmental issues at stake.
A new step towards biodiversity protection
Over a period of 30 years, TSE has planned to carry out a very ambitious programme of biodiversity protection and restoration through three types of action: soil deartificialisation, restoring a mosaic of grasslands, and limiting invasive plant species. All of these actions are voluntary measures not resulting from any obligation and were defined in partnership with CDC Biodiversité, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts.
TSE delegated the management of grassy areas to a young local organic sheep farmer who was able to set up a business due to support from the project. The forage resources of the plant will thus be used for eco-grazing for a flock of about 1000 sheep.
For Pierre-Yves Lambert, Managing Director of TSE, “The Marville plant will generate a very large amount of electricity even under minimal sunlight. The interest is of course economic, but above all, the plant meets our ambitions in the energy transition: we are right in the heart of it with our fully renewable production. This successful reconversion takes into account existing activities like the aerodrome, biodiversity and farming”.
La Communauté de Communes du Pays de Montmédy engaged in the energy transition
The solar power plant on the Marville base was made possible with the support of the Communauté de Communes du Pays de Montmédy, who wanted to become part of the energy transition and give a second life to the former military site by producing renewable energy.
The project is fully in line with the orientations of the Regional Climate Air Energy scheme (SRCAE) of Lorraine, as well as the objectives of the French Multiannual Energy Plan (PPE) adopted at the end of April which aims to develop renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.
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