€40 Million Solar Carport Powers Belgian Wildlife Park

A new benchmark in sustainable infrastructure has been set at Belgium’s Pairi Daiza wildlife park, which recently inaugurated the world’s largest wooden solar carport. The massive 40 MW structure, located in Brugelette, Hainaut, represents a significant €40 million clean energy project developed by Belgian firm Perpetum Energy.

Spanning an impressive 200,000 square meters, the carport is a feat of both engineering and environmental commitment. The park specifically requested the use of 100% natural and renewable materials for the project. In collaboration with partner Préfabois, Perpetum Energy constructed the facility using class-4 Douglas fir sourced from PEFC-certified forests in the Ardennes, a choice that minimizes raw material waste and reduces gray energy consumption. The structure supports a vast array of 93,786 high-efficiency photovoltaic panels, featuring a mix of TOPCon bi-facial models from Longi and Canadian Solar.

The facility is designed to generate 39,800 MWh of green energy annually, which is sufficient to power approximately 11,350 homes. Currently, Pairi Daiza consumes a portion of this electricity for its own operations and exports the surplus to the public grid, effectively transforming the zoo into a major green energy producer. Grégoire Dewandeleer, general manager of Perpetum Energy, highlighted the technical complexity of the project, which required significant modifications to the main control cabin over three days to manage the park’s substantial electrical needs and the new generating capacity.

This ambitious undertaking was financed through a third-party investment model by the Green4Power SA fund, which is co-owned by Perpetum and Socofe. While the park currently exports a significant amount of power, this surplus is expected to decrease as future plans include the installation of electric-vehicle charging stations beneath the new carport shade houses. The Pairi Daiza project serves as a powerful precedent for integrating large-scale renewable energy solutions into public and commercial spaces, demonstrating how functional infrastructure can dually serve community needs and climate goals.

Sources for the €40 Million Solar Carport Powers Belgian Wildlife Park

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