French government offered a solar tender program to develop renewable energy and energy storage systems in the country’s non-interconnected zones (ZNI). SunPower is awarded to deliver 39.1MW of solar PV technology under the ZNI program. As SunPower secured 27 projects out of the total of 33 awards, it represented that SunPower won 76% of projects from the tender.
SunPower will supply 20.7MW of high efficiency PV panels that are have the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Silver designation. In addition, the company will design and build five projects totaling 18.4MW that integrate solar systems with battery storage devices. All these projects are scheduled to be completed and operational by mid-2019.
"SunPower applauds the French government for promoting solar power development in the ZNI, and its forward-thinking approach to integrating battery storage with these projects to provide a more resilient, reliable and sustainable utility grid infrastructure," said SunPower Executive Vice President Eduardo Medina.
The installations will be built in Corsica and the French West Indies.
In Corsica, SunPower plans to build two solar power plants of approximately 5MW each, and one 1.5MW rooftop PV system. The 11.3MW projects are under development in partnership with Corsica Sole.
In French West Indies, SunPower will build a 4MW PV plant at a refinery in Martinique and a 3MW PV system at a quarry in Guadeloupe.