A citizen's collective in the western French seaside town of Les Sables d'Olonne has initiated a highly original self-consumption operation, seeking to bring together a majority of small-scale residential producers to supply local consumers.
From pv magazine France
Government announcements concerning a possible moratorium on rooftop PV have not dampened the spirits of the Sol'Aire Côte du Lumière collective in the western French department of Vendée, which is more motivated than ever to promote renewable energy through a self-consumption operation covering the seaside towns of Sables d'Olonnes and Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
Admittedly, “the drop in subsidies and in the rate at which surplus electricity is sold is not going down well, that's for sure. But when you think about it and prepare for it, it can be positive,” Guy Choblet, a collective delegate, tells pv magazine France.
On March 14, at the Salle des fêtes de la Chaume in Sables d'Olonne, the latest news on the future of the PV industry will be on everyone's lips, at a conference organized jointly by Sol'aire Côte de Lumière and the Sables d'Olonne urban area, as part of Climate Week. Two topics will be on the agenda: the first will focus on individual self-consumption and how to maximize it using power optimizers and/or batteries, solutions destined to become more widespread with the lowering of the S21 tariff.
“This equipment will even be mandatory from October 1, 2025, when the 5.5% VAT for solar systems below 9 kWp comes into force,” Choblet points out. “That's why we're currently testing optimizers with our two installation partners — ARS Energie and Asoleco, from La Roche-sur-Yon — including a new intelligent system recently launched by a Brest-based start-up, which is said to improve self-consumption by up to 90% with batteries. If the tests are conclusive, the equipment will be systematically offered to our members, for management and/or storage of the electricity produced,” he adds.
A one-of-a-kind operation
The second item on the agenda for the March 14 conference is the collective self-consumption operation currently being launched by Sol'Aire Côte de Lumière in the towns of Les Sables d'Olonne and probably Saint-Gilles Croix-de-Vie, themselves stakeholders in the project. Both local authorities have included the collective's activities in their energy plans for the areas. “We'll be supported by Enercoop Pays de la Loire, a producer-supplier of green electricity and renewable energy consultant, and Récit, from the Énergie partagée network, which brings together citizen groups like us,” Choblet points out.
The operation is unique. Whereas most projects bring together a minority of producers and a majority of consumers, here it's quite the opposite, as Choblet explains: “Knowing that residents equipped with solar power consume only half of what they produce, the idea is for several dozen small residential producers to join together in collective self-consumption loops to sell their surplus electricity to a handful of local consumers, public and private, located within a perimeter of 2 km or even 10 km.”
And potential producers are numerous. Thanks to the support of Sol'Aire Côte de Lumière, 310 rooftop power plants have been built on the Vendée coast — including 192 in the Les Sables area and 56 in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie — in the space of three years. Three quarters of these plants are already in service, and 160 new ones are due to come on stream by 2025 — enough to power as many energy loops as needed.
“We already have almost 600 kWp, i.e. 50% of total production, of installed capacity available for collective self-consumption. The current context will certainly encourage our members to take part in this new system of locally shared energy,” Choblet adds.