Iberdrola, a leading company in the energy sector and Oil'Ive Green, protagonist of a new French oil sector, have signed an exclusive partnership to develop agrivoltaic solutions in synergy with olive tree cultivation and support the diversification of wine-growing areas in difficulty towards an olive-growing reconversion.
“The ambition of this partnership – he declared Thierry Vergnaud, director of development of the land subsidiary of Iberdrola France (in the picture) is to build, by combining the production of solar energy with the cultivation of olive trees, a true French olive sector to respond to the strong growth of the market. The technical and agronomic support in the face of climate change, the increase in productivity and the economy generated by the agrivoltaic system will allow operators to develop and perpetuate their business and those who wish to diversify into olive cultivation, to finance and facilitate their reconversion”.
The olive tree is grown as a hedge with plants super intensive. Associated withagrivoltaism, the two partners are convinced, favors agronomic gains through the physical protection of trees from climatic risks (hail, late frosts, leaf burn, etc.). Furthermore, the plant will prevent the soil from drying out by maintaining sufficient humidity for the crops, without having to resort to irrigation. This association allows us to avoid the withdrawal of groundwater.
Iberdrola and Oil'Ive Green will identify sites among farms that could host agrivoltaic projects and combine renewable energy production and olive growing in the regions of New Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence. -Alps-Côte d'Azur and Occitania.
The agrivoltaic projects will be developed on agricultural areas of several tens of hectares, providing economic support to farmers. The agrivoltaic systems will be specifically adapted to the cultivation of “fruit hedges” and equipped with “solar trackers”. These photovoltaic panels, mounted on an articulated arm, they follow the trend of the sun to allow the positioning of the panels based on the needs of tree protection in the main phases of the development cycle and the greatest climate risks. Power plants will be adapted for harvest mechanization (mechanized harvesters).
The ambition of Oil'Ive Green is to create a French olive supply chain to meet growing consumer demand. The goal is to cultivate 50.000 hectares of olive trees (consumption oil and biofuels) in the next decade. Iberdrola, through this partnership, wishes to support the agricultural world and the sector by providing its experience to agricultural companies that need agrivoltaic synergy.
La replacement of vine cultivation with olive cultivation, whose market is growing rapidly, the two partners say, represents a concrete opportunity for wine companies in difficulty. As part of this partnership, Iberdrola e Oil'Ive Green together they will study the different possibilities of collaborating on the development of agrivoltaic projects in wineries that wish to diversify.
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