Start of "green" conversion work on the disused Fonderies du Poitou site

Construction work on the creation of an industrial park focused on green energy began on Tuesday, April 15, at the disused Fonderies du Poitou site (Vienne), which will be taken over in 2023 by a consortium that wants to install a photovoltaic power plant and produce renewable hydrogen.

Fonderies du Poitou, a long-time subcontractor of Renault, employed around 2.000 people in the 1990s and 2000s, before gradually reducing its activity until the final closure of the last site, in Ingrandes-sur-Vienne, in the summer of 2022.

"The idea is to be able to create a kind of 'multifactory' on this emblematic site around the ecological transition and to relaunch another adventure, adapted to today's needs," Alban Casimir, deputy general manager for industrial convergence at TSE, a French independent solar energy producer, told AFP.

Of the 43 hectares of the former foundries in Ingrandes, TSE will occupy around 26 hectares to develop a large photovoltaic power plant, "with potential batteries," and a logistics platform, Mr. Casimir said.

The former technical landfill site in the neighboring town of Oyré has also been taken over by TSE and will be exclusively dedicated to the production of solar energy.

In total, the electricity produced will represent the equivalent of the consumption of the city of Poitiers (around 90.000 inhabitants), according to TSE.

The other company in the project, French decarbonized hydrogen producer Lhyfe, plans to build "a green and renewable hydrogen production unit" on approximately 16 hectares, which could be powered by electricity produced by TSE.

This "industrial reconversion project to support the energy transition," for a total investment of several hundred million euros, will contribute to the economic development of the region, with 250 to 300 job creations, emphasizes Pierre-Yves Lambert, CEO of TSE.

The President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Alain Rousset, welcomed a "strategic project in the current geopolitical context."

Furthermore, TSE "is working in conjunction with the association of former foundry workers to preserve the memory of the site and its former workers," and a museum could be created in a space specially dedicated to them, Mr. Casimir said.

Commissioning for TSE is planned for 2027.