Soil Artificialization: Neoen Calls for "Unlocking" Its XXL Solar Park in Gironde

Renewable energy producer Neoen called on the government on Wednesday, June 11, to "unblock" its giant photovoltaic power plant project, carried out with Engie in Gironde and stalled for more than a year due to issues related to land artificialization.

Named Horizeo, this €600 million project involves the construction of an 800 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic park, one of the largest in Europe, on 680 hectares of forest 20 km south of Bordeaux, in the heart of the Landes de Gascogne massif.

"We must be allowed to move forward. Everything is ready, both the project and the reforestation areas. What we're missing are the zero net artificialization (ZAN) permits," Neoen CEO Xavier Barbaro told the press during a visit to the Cestas solar power plant (Gironde), the largest in the country currently, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

"Today, the ball is in the government's court. (...) There is a possibility of unblocking this at the national level and that is what we are waiting for," he added.

Prior to the recent ban on launching photovoltaic park projects of more than 25 hectares in forested areas, Horizeo is mainly facing the "zero net artificialization" (ZAN) objective, which has imposed sober land management since 2021.

Due to its footprint, this XXL power station "would put a strain on the budgets of all local authorities, which need it to carry out public service projects or job creation," warned the president of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, Alain Rousset, last year, preferring the project for new high-speed lines (LGV) in the Southwest.

At the end of April, before the Senate, Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Engie, co-financier of Horizeo, had castigated the "contradictory injunctions of the State", which wishes to "develop renewable energies" and abruptly halt a project "caught in the complexities of the ZAN".

For the project leaders, in addition to its renewable electricity production planned for 2028, Horizeo would also help to relaunch the solar panel production sector in France.

Locally, the project is facing many opponents - forestry and agricultural unions, hunters and environmental associations - who fear an increase in the risks of fire and flooding as well as a land grab of the forest.