French renewable energy company Neoen is marking the tenth anniversary of its 300 megawatt-peak (MWp) Cestas solar park near Bordeaux, which remains the country’s most powerful solar installation since it was commissioned in 2015.
Constructed in less than a year by a Franco-German consortium including Eiffage, Schneider Electric and Krinner, the facility was built on land previously damaged by Storm Klaus. With nearly one million photovoltaic panels, the park generates an average of 345 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually—enough to power around 240,000 people, excluding heating.
“For the past ten years, Cestas has demonstrated that large-scale solar can be seamlessly integrated into its environment while meeting the challenges of the energy transition,” said Guillaume Decaen, Neoen’s director in France.
The site continues to be one of Europe’s largest solar parks and has integrated environmental and technological innovations over the past decade. In 2022, Neoen collaborated with France’s transmission system operator RTE on a pilot project that enables the solar park to help regulate grid voltage at night by providing limited access to its inverters.
This functionality makes Cestas the only solar facility in France capable of supporting high-voltage grid stability during non-generating hours, with positive operational feedback reported in the Bordeaux region.
The site’s day-to-day operations are overseen by Eiffage Énergies Systèmes and Schneider Electric, with a team of around ten staff. Ecological management measures include a herd of 120 sheep for grazing and a five-hectare biodiversity zone that supports bird boxes, bat shelters and reptile habitats. A new kilometre-long hedgerow with 120 fruit trees was also planted recently, in collaboration with local schoolchildren.
Pierre Ducout, mayor of Cestas, noted that the project has been “favourably received by local residents” and continues to be well integrated into its surroundings.
“Cestas shows that large projects can play a vital role, alongside power plants of all sizes, in building an energy mix that is resilient, competitive and integrated into local communities and regions,” said Neoen CEO Xavier Barbaro.
