Nov 6 2009
Neoen and Arkema announce the start-up of a photovoltaic power plant on Arkema's Serquigny industrial site in Haute-Normandie, France. This 174 kWc* solar power plant, representing an investment of over 1 million euros, has been built into the roof of one of the site's maintenance buildings.
This is our first operating solar plant. The project is the result of twelve months' work to fully address the various legal, technical, financial and insurance issues involved in a project of this size. It symbolizes the rigorous and demanding standards as well as the professionalism of our teams who were lucky to find in Arkema a committed and competent partner, says Xavier Barbaro, Neoen Managing Director.
This project to produce clean and renewable electricity has its natural place on an Arkema industrial site, as we are resolutely committed to developing solutions to the challenges of sustainable development, in particular with a wide range of products dedicated to photovoltaics » explains François Jaime, Arkema Vice President Energy.
The Serquigny solar plant was inaugurated on Thursday November 5th 2009 by Xavier Caïtucoli, President of Neoen, and François Jaime, Arkema Vice President Energy .
Arkema's Serquigny plant specializes in the production of a wide range of high performance technical polymers, several of which from renewable raw materials. The Serquigny plant in particular attends to environmental issues, and is ISO 14001 certified.
The building's roof covering required the installation of 918 Centrosolar polycrystalline silicon solar panels containing a number of Arkema products. The modules were integrated within the existing roof structure using the Biosol process which directly ensures watertightness. The work was completed in under three weeks from the retrofit of the existing roof.
This photovoltaic solar power plant is connected to the power grid via a transformer, and will supply enough electricity to power the equivalent of around forty homes. Its design makes it eligible for a feed-in tariff incentive allowance. Responsible for the investment and the project ownership of this solar power plant, Neoen will run the project for the duration of the lease granted by Arkema.