photovoltaic panels installed along highways

Solar panels covering several hectares appear along the highways. They are installed on abandoned, unexploited land that has become highly sought after. This motorway land is now a solution to multiply the production of solar energy in France. Along the A6 motorway, north of Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), 8,600 solar panels came out of the ground in 2021. The plant was built on an abandoned site ofa highway company. Before, it was a field of stones. The land, flat, with an easy connection to the electricity network, very close, facilitated the installation.

Today, this photovoltaic plant covers the annual electricity needs of 3,000 people. Near the highway, the village of Boyer (Saône-et-Loire) and its 700 inhabitants benefit from this electricity. The mayor (SE), Jean-Paul Bontemps, supported the installation of the plant. “It’s a small resource, it will probably be around 2,000 euros per year, which comes to us from taxes on the electricity produced”, he confides. Authorizations to install parks, however, take time. “Four years minimum and incompressible to develop a photovoltaic park between the idea and the realization”according to Raphaël Ventre, marketing and service director of Vinci Autoroutes, who specifies that the delays are “half as important” in Germany.