Boralex starts up 9-MW crowdfunded solar farm in France

Canadian renewable energy company Boralex Inc (TSE:BLX) announced on Tuesday that it has commissioned its 9-MW (AC) La Cle des Champs solar farm in south-central France, its first crowdfunded asset in the country.

The milestone comes two years after Boralex launched a crowdfunding campaign through Enerfip’s platform, raising EUR 844,000 (USD 819,600) from residents in the Haute-Loire department and the wider Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region. The amount represented 40% of the capital required for the project.

According to the Canadian firm, La Cle des Champs is the largest solar PV plant in Haute-Loire, and is the first for Boralex in this department. The solar farm is equipped with over 28,000 panels and uses trackers to follow the sun, Boralex said.

La Cle des Champs will operate under a 20-year feed-in premium contract, which the company secured for this project in the French energy regulator’s calls for tenders in 2020.

Boralex has a team based some 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the solar farm site that will be in charge of operation and maintenance, the firm added.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 0.971)

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