Urbasolar has launched France’s largest rooftop solar project in Beauvais, an installation covering 62,000 square meters and generating 13 GWh annually. The project will power around 3,000 households and underscores the growing role of industrial rooftops in renewable energy.
France’s Largest Rooftop Solar Project
Operated by Axpo subsidiary Urbasolar, the facility is located in Beauvais, about 80 kilometers north of Paris. This ambitious project captures the growing momentum for solar energy in France and highlights the critical role rooftop installations now play in the country’s renewable energy landscape.
France’s largest rooftop solar project in Beauvais, spanning 62,000 square meters, generates 13 GWh annually—powering 3,000 households. (Image: Collected)
The rooftop solar installation sits atop an industrial building owned by PRD (Percier Réalisation et Développement), a French real estate development company. With a total installed capacity of 12.8 megawatts (MW), the project will generate around 13 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually.
This output is enough to power approximately 3,000 French households each year. As a milestone achievement, the project sets a new benchmark for rooftop solar in France and emphasizes the potential of industrial rooftops to help meet renewable energy goals.
A Key Collaboration for Rooftop Solar Success
The project’s success stems from a strong partnership between PRD, Urbasolar, and Harbert Management Corporation (HMC), an investment management company that has previously worked with Urbasolar on other renewable energy projects.
With its extensive expertise in solar technologies, Urbasolar is one of the leading providers of solar solutions in France. The company has completed more than 700 large-scale solar installations, ranging from ground-mounted systems to floating solar arrays.
Rooftop solar remains a key area of focus for the company, and this latest project in Beauvais is a testament to Urbasolar’s capabilities in this field. The collaboration was instrumental in bringing the project to completion, demonstrating how partnerships between private entities can drive innovation in the renewable energy sector.
Expanding the Rooftop Solar Portfolio
Rooftop solar projects have gained significant traction in recent years, largely because they utilize existing urban and industrial spaces for clean energy generation. Through Urbasolar, Axpo has already installed more than 190 MW of rooftop solar capacity in France alone.
Axpo, headquartered in Switzerland, considers rooftop solar a critical component of its broader strategy to expand solar energy capacity across Europe. The company has announced plans to further develop solar projects in countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland.
According to Antoine Millioud, Head of Axpo’s Solar Division, “Our extensive experience in various solar technologies enables us to expand our activities in other markets, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Switzerland.”
France’s Solar Energy Expansion
France has seen impressive growth in its solar energy sector over the past few years. By the end of 2023, the country had an installed solar capacity of 20 GW. This expansion aligns with the government’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), which sets an ambitious target to increase solar capacity to 60 GW by 2030.
In recent years, the French government has implemented supportive measures to encourage the development of rooftop solar. These include exemptions from preliminary environmental assessments for photovoltaic (PV) projects under 300 kW, which has helped streamline the approval process for smaller-scale installations.
Rooftop solar projects leverage existing spaces like industrial rooftops, reducing the need for large tracts of land—a particularly important benefit in urban areas where space is limited. They also help decentralize electricity generation by producing power closer to where it is consumed, which reduces transmission losses and improves grid stability.
The launch of France’s largest rooftop solar project in Beauvais marks a significant achievement for Urbasolar, Axpo, and their partners. As the solar sector continues to expand, projects like this will be essential in helping France and Europe transition toward a more sustainable energy future.
