Cintegabelle
Progression of Akuo’s floating solar energy
Cintegabelle is Akuo’s second floating solar plant to be commissioned, after O’MEGA 1.
With a capacity of 8.7 MWp, the Cintegabelle plant sits on Cap Vert lake, near Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department, a 19-ha (47 acre) man-made lake created through the flooding of a former gravel quarry. Floating solar technology has made it possible to rehabilitate the lake by adding solar electricity production to its previous functions as a reservoir and recreative fishing area.
The plant is thus contributing to the Occitania Region’s objectives to quadruple its photovoltaic production by 2030 and become Europe’s leading positive energy region by 2050.
The Cintegabelle plant sits on Cap Vert lake, near Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department of France.
A direct power purchase contract, from producer to supplier
The commissioning of the Cintegabelle floating solar plant was made possible thanks to financing from Arkea Banque Entreprises & Institutionnels, Caisse d’Epargne Aquitaine Poitou Charentes and its financial engineering subsidiary Hélia Conseil, the Energy MAIF Transition fund, as well as electricity supplier Octopus Energy (formerly Plüm énergie) with whom Akuo has signed a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). This forward power purchase contract commits the electricity supplier to purchasing the electricity produced by Akuo at the Cintegabelle plant over the long term (20 years) at a specified price.
Our CSR commitment
Resource conservation
By covering part of the lake’s surface area, the solar panels help reduce natural evaporation.
A hedge comprising various varieties limiting the plant’s visual impact from the Espalmade lane (which runs alongside the lake and into the village) has been planted to ensure the site’s landscape aspect.
The site’s fishing vocation has been retained and the site remains open to the public. The site’s fauna and flora will be monitored throughout the facility’s life cycle.
Creation of an educational trail
Lastly, within the framework of the plant’s construction, an educational trail has been created in partnership with the village’s youth department, its activity center and the Akuo Foundation. The village’s children were able to illustrate the materials with original drawings, focusing as much on fauna and flora as on renewable energies.
An Akuo employee worked with the children as part of a skills sponsorship program to organize these workshops: "The time spent talking with the children and young people about these themes was rich. They very quickly got to grips with the subjects with great enthusiasm, as most of them visit the site with their families".
This educational trail enables visitors to better understand and appreciate the innovative aspects of a floating solar power plant - as well as the history of the site and its natural heritage.
