Construction of Europe’s biggest photovoltaic roof on a commercial building

Aérowatt, a green electricity producer in France, has announced the start of work to build a photovoltaic station in Orange Porte Sud.

Set in 10 ha of land, the Porte Sud retail park in Orange (Vaucluse), which has a total surface area of 30,000 m², is scheduled to open in March 2010.

A partner of Bouygues Immobilier, the developer of Orange Porte Sud, Aérowatt is to integrate a photovoltaic station into the building's roof. The station will produce a total of 2.2 MWc, which is equivalent to the annual domestic consumption of a town of 3,500 inhabitants. This station, which is owned by Aérowatt and which is to be put into service in the winter of 2009, currently constitutes the biggest PV roof project for a building which will receive members of the public in Europe.

The 12,000 PV panels will be supplied by Schüco as part of its procurement contract signed with Aérowatt in February 2009.

Today, the retail park's first brick was laid by Eric Mazoyer, Bouygues Immobilier Managing Director, in the presence of the project's key players: François Mariani, Vaucluse Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman, Jacques Bompard, Orange mayor and County councillor, and Jérôme Billerey, Chairman of the Board at Aérowatt.

During the event, Jérôme Billerey said that he was ‘ very happy with the cooperation between Aérowatt, Bouygues Immobilier and Orange 's public partners. This project, of an unprecedented size in Europe , confirms Aérowatt's position as a leading player in the field of photovoltaic energy.'