French developer VSN Energies Nouvelles was able to almost double the power generated by one of its photovoltaic projects, thanks to technological advances such as high power panels and a new plant design concept.
The French company VSB Energies Nouvelles has started construction of a 9MW solar power plant on a former gravel pit and clay kaolin mining site in Druelle Balsac, southern France.
The project was originally designed to produce just 5MW of electricity.
"The project took part in a tender held by CRE in 2016," Jérémie Baccar, PV development manager at VSB Energies Nouvelles, told the French magazine Photovoltaique. "At that time, during the development phase between 2016 and 2021, technological developments allowed us to almost double the installed capacity of the power plant without changing the surface area."
He said around 30 per cent of the increase came from the development of solar modules with higher output power.
The Soleil de Balsac project originally planned to install around 26,500 modules with an output of 300 W each, but by the final construction phase the number of modules installed reached around 40,000 with 550 W each, supplied by Chinese manufacturer GCL," Baccar said. "
During the final construction phase, the project also benefited from the optimisation of the module layout and row spacing, a tighter arrangement that resulted in a 55% increase in power production.
"Due to the shorter row spacing, the modules are arranged more closely, which increases the shaded area, but at the same time the increase in the number of panels in the power plant increases the power output, and our development team has carried out important work to find the optimal solution to balance these two aspects." Baccarat said.
VSB currently has 2GW of solar developments. its projects include floating arrays, agricultural PV installations, PV garages and large rooftop solar projects.