At the end of last week, the town of Chaumont in eastern France saw the official opening of a solar power plant comprising 2.5 megawatts (MW) of SOLON solar modules installed on industrial rooftops. General contractor Adsoba, based in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, project managed and built the power plant using some 11,300 SOLON 230/07 modules as part of a 10.6MW contract with SOLON.

Revenues from the plant, which has a total capacity of 3.5MW, will be used to finance further development of the new industrial park. To start with, developer Ecosun Expert has only built the roofs of ten buildings of different sizes. Over the next few years, at the initiative of the Chaumont local authority, various businesses are to locate to the site. The solar power plant will then supply them directly with electricity.

At the opening ceremony for the plant – which is one of the largest in eastern France – the French education minister Luc Chatel, who is also the mayor of Chaumont, congratulated the project partners. The project had made it possible both to generate power in and attract businesses to the region, he said. In addition, total floor space of 18,000m² was available immediately – an important factor given that it can take up to two years to secure planning permission for industrial development in France.

The SOLON Blue 230/07 solar module was recently awarded the best grade – “very good” – in the PV+Test conducted by TÜV Rheinland and Solarpraxis. Scoring 94.3 out of a possible 100 points, SOLON’s product achieved the best result of all modules tested to date. Experts at TÜV Rheinland and Solarpraxis AG developed the independent PV+Test quality seal according to the highest standards as a way of offering consumers guidance in the steadily growing market for solar technology.