ENERGY The community hopes to “save between 600,000 and 750,000 euros per year”
Public lighting illustration — G. Varela
Six thousand photovoltaic streetlights will be deployed by 2026 in the agglomeration of Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) to supply the largest park of public lighting in Paris. solar energy in Europe, according to an agreement signed by the local authority. and its partners.
The project is formalized; Wednesday at the Mayors’ Fair in; Paris, with the company Fonroche Lighting and the Union of public purchasing groups (Ugap). The Agen agglomeration, which has 19,000 light points, will invest 11 million euros to replace 7,000 obsolete lampposts with 6,000 streetlights. solar energy.
A heavy investment
“Agen is the first agglomeration to to switch so massively to photovoltaics,” rejoices Jean Dionis du Séjour, president of the local authority. which brings together more than 100,000 inhabitants in 44 municipalities. “The investment is heavy but the profitability is fast. We hope to save between 600,000 and 750,000 euros per year,” adds the elected official.
The supplier of the new streetlights, Fonroche Lighting, is based to Roquefort in the inner suburbs of Agenes. The world leader in solar street lighting, the company employs around 200 people worldwide, including 130 locally.
Its turnover is estimated at to 100 million euros for 2023, compared to 60 million in 2022, a sign of strong expansion. She picked up recently contracts with Senegal to equip the country with tens of thousands of autonomous photovoltaic street lamps, which also light roads in Kuwait, a residential district in Que. bec or ski slopes in Switzerland.
Solar, a solution for the future for local authorities?
For the general manager of Fonroche Lighting, Laurent Lubrano, solar is a solution for the future for communities that devote “40 to 60 %” their electricity bill. to public lighting, against a backdrop of soaring prices.
The price of a solar street light is 20 to 20. 30% more expensive than a classic “but there’s no extra cost, no pay energy, no trench, no cable, no wire electric bucket and no network maintenance which is very expensive. The return on investment is immediate. There is no maintenance for 10 years.””
And to ensure that “there’t”t”n”not be needed a lot of sun”: “ ; For example, we have equipped a motorway interchange at; Calais has 120 streetlights that work every day of the year”, underlines the director of Fonroche.