Promote a French sector of renewable energies and collaborate with local authorities in order to diversify, decarbonize and even secure their energy supply. This is the stated objective of Neoen, one of the main independent producers of renewable energies.
The company founded in 2008 and headed by Xavier Barbaro already has 5.6 gigawatts (about 150 power plants) of solar, photovoltaic and storage capacity worldwide, installed or under construction.
The commissioning by Neoen of its first massive renewable electricity storage plant in Brittany embodies an approach carried out jointly with the Region to reduce its energy fragility.
In 2021, Brittany, which imports 80% of its electricity, covered only 19% of its needs, but three quarters of its production is of renewable origin.
Balancing the network by compensating for variations
Operational since last August, this storage unit called Pod-Tredan (battery in Breton) and installed in Plourhan in Côtes d’Armor, is the second opened by Neoen in France and the largest in Brittany.
As with that of Azur in the Landes (6MW/6 MWh), connected to the Enedis distribution network since 2019, the energy company is the owner and operator.
Inaugurated on October 5, Pod-Tredan is equipped with LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries and has a capacity of 8 MW / 8.2 MWh.
Composed of 26 air-conditioned cabinets, it is connected to the network operated by Enedis.
« Pod-Tredan will contribute to maintain the real-time balance of the Breton electricity network during winter peaks by participating in the RTE network operator’s daily calls for tenders indicated Guillaume Decaen, development director of Neoen, whose reference shareholder is the Impala fund of businessman Jacques Veyrat.
« The electricity is stored and then returned to the network with the aim of maintaining its balance around a frequency of 50 hertz. »
The unit will thus compensate for variations between electricity production and demand.
“Pioneer Project” approved by SMILE
This power plant was born from the ERDF regional call for projects, “Conversion – large capacity storage of electrical renewable energies” piloted in 2019 by the Brittany Region and whose Pod-Tredan battery was the winner.
The European subsidy constituted 40% of the total investment.
The project has also been approved by the SMILE association, which supports the deployment of major regional and collaborative industrial projects in connection with intelligent energy systems or smart grids.
« With this pioneering project, Neoen demonstrates the feasibility of deploying energy storage in Brittany » welcomed the regional councilor André Crocq during the inauguration.
For the assembly and installation of the Pod-Tredan batteries, the company called on the Quimper specialist in the storage and intelligent management of renewable energies, Entech Smart Energies, which went public in the fall of 2021.
« Neoen is working with all the players in the territory of the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions with a view to continuing the development of solar, wind and storage projects that will produce low-carbon, competitive and reliable energy. added Guillaume Decaen.
900 MW of installed power in France
In France, Neoen is gradually making its mark in the big leagues of the energy sector. The company has an installed power capacity of 904 MW, to which must be added 311 MW of power under construction.
In Cestas (Aquitaine), it has developed and operates the most powerful solar park in France (300 MWp). Last November, Neoen announced that it had won 130.3 MWp in the recent government tender for ground-mounted solar power plants with nine projects ranging between 4.0 and 42.8 MWp of power.
In Brittany, Neoen is developing other storage unit projects, particularly in Finistère. The installation of solar projects is also envisaged. Four wind turbines could be built in the Manaty and Kerscubert sectors in Côtes d’Armor, a project for which a public inquiry is open until October 27.
In strong growth, Neoen carries out half of its activity in solar power, 40% in wind power and 10% via battery storage and aims to increase its capacity to at least 10 GW by 2025. Last year , the company achieved a turnover of 333.6 million euros, up 12% with an operating margin of around 300 million euros.