12/5/2011
Brief
On 1 December, AREVA and JUWI, a company specialized in renewable energies, signed a construction lease agreement to set up a photovoltaic park on the former Ecarpière mine site.
Having produced uranium until 1990, the site is now going to experience a second life. Thousands of solar panels will be installed on a 12 hectare (~30 acre) plot to produce some 5000 MWh per year. The photovoltaic park will produce sufficient electricity to supply a town of 3500 inhabitants.
Apart from enhancing the renewable energies sector, this project is a remarkable step forward in the re-industrialization of France’s former mine sites. Similar projects are being studied in the Loire department. From uranium to sun is but a single step.