French energy giant TotalEnergies and Switzerland-headquartered sustainable construction player Holcim have inaugurated a floating solar power plant with a 31 MW capacity, located in Belgium.
The plant, inaugurated on March 20, is located in Obourg on a former chalk quarry site that has been rehabilitated into a lake and produces 30 GWh of renewable electricity per year.
According to TotalEnergies, this renewable electricity is self-consumed by Holcim’s industrial facilities, making it the largest floating solar power plant in Europe dedicated to self-consumption.
To maximize landscape integration, over 700 meters of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) were carried out to connect the panels to the electrical substation, the company noted.
“We are delighted to inaugurate this floating solar power plant, which demonstrates TotalEnergies’ teams’ ability to innovate to meet the needs of our partner Holcim, whom we support along with other industrial customers in their efforts to decarbonize their operations,” said Olivier Greiner , Managing Director Retail Power & Gas Belgium at TotalEnergies.