Europe’s largest solar farm will be connected with Nexans’ Energyflex® photovoltaic cables after Eiffage Energie awarded Nexans the contract to supply 90 percent of the cables for the Cestas solar farm in France. As part of the contract, Nexans will manufacture and supply approximately 5,000 kilometres of medium and low voltage, photovoltaic cables (PV) and data cables (optical fiber).
The solar farm, located near Bordeaux in southwest France, will generate more than 350 GWh per year with a peak capacity of 300 MW. Eiffage Energie operates on behalf of Clemessy which pilots a consortium of several investors including Neoen, formed to build, operate and maintain the farm.
Approximately one million solar panels will cover 250 hectares of land divided into 25 solar plants. The farm will be connected to the grid in October 2015.
Nexans’ Energyflex® cables will provide durable, high performance in-field connections between the PV panels and the inverters that will transform the solar energy into usable AC electricity. Energyflex® cables were developed by Nexans to meet the increasing demand for reliable, efficient cables in the specialised photovoltaic market.
Fernando Dos Santos, Photovoltaic Projects Manager at Eiffage Energie said, “Eiffage Energie chose Nexans because of its full range offer from low and medium voltage cables to photovoltaic cables for this project. Another important factor was that Nexans offers advanced supply chain solutions and direct delivery to site.”
The cables are being manufactured at the Bourg-en-Bresse, Jeumont and Andrézieux plants in France. Installation is due to be completed by summer 2015.
