As the world faces depleting natural resources and fluctuating fossil fuel production costs, industries and businesses are seeking solutions to stabilise their energy expenses and secure long-term visibility, while maximising production and minimising carbon emissions. With falling costs and ever-innovative technologies, renewable energy, and solar energy in particular, is a much-needed beacon of performance and profitability in unpredictable times.
Specialised for more than a decade in providing integrated, efficiency-enhancing solar energy and storage systems and across-the-board support, our role at Equans is to bring these best-in-class solutions to our C&I customers, customised at scale.
Our dual approach, which combines global expertise and locally anchored operations, enables us to develop cost-effective, turnkey PV solutions tailored to industry, the service sector, and evespeedn public institutions o necessary and scale.
The sun finally rises
The solar sector currently outshines all other energy sectors be they fossil or renewable. Having grown nearly 30% annually over the past decade, the International Energy Agency’s most recent projections predict a further growth of 17% in 2023. Converging contextual factors explain this exponential acceleration:
- 2050 Net Zero Scenario: To achieve net zero emissions by deadline, an average of 25% annual generation growth is necessary between 2022 and 2030, in other words more than a threefold increase in annual capacity growth.
- Global Investment surge: investment in solar PV is expected to reach 354 billion euros in 2023 worldwide, demonstrating the global community’s unprecedented commitment to expanding solar energy infrastructure.
- Cost-effective technologies: In ten years, the levelized cost of solar energy has dropped by 89%. By comparison, in 2010, solar energy was 710% more expensive than electricity from fossil fuels. Now, twelve years later, it is nearly 30% cheaper. This makes solar energy not only an environmentally sound option, but also the fastest growing and most economically competitive.
Reaping the benefits of solar energy
If solar energy’s primary purpose is to reduce the world’s carbon footprint, its economic benefits also keep adding up:
Predictable costs and quick ROI
Installations are more and more performant and profitable. Aside from the increasingly competitive upfront pricing of solar installations — with a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years that will keep expanding as technology advances — the associated long-term electricity expenses are predictable. Powered by 100% renewable energy solar installations guarantee fixed electricity generation costs and protect businesses from market volatility, geopolitical tensions, and dwindling natural resources. The initial investment in solar often pays for itself over time through significantly lower energy bills: businesses can see a return on investment in as little as 5-10 years.
Low maintenance, high efficiency
Solar panels need minimal maintenance. Regular cleaning and occasional technical checks make them a hassle-free option for energy production. Investing in a monitoring system can also improve the upkeep process. These systems provide real-time data on solar panel performance, allowing for immediate detection of potential problems and timely intervention. This proactive approach ensures that solar systems are always operating at peak efficiency, maximising energy generation and cost savings.
A rapidly evolving technology
Technology is evolving extremely rapidly. Photovoltaic projects have become the most proficient sources of solar energy generation, and the challenges they once faced are quickly becoming opportunities for greater efficiency. Intermittency stemming from solar energy's dependence on sunlight, is being offset by advanced battery energy storage solutions (BESS). These systems capture excess energy during sunlight hours for later use, ensuring a consistent power supply. This not only stabilises the solar energy output but also increases the resilience of the grid. Floating solar farms are answering to the challenge of site availability by making use of un- or underexploited land, reducing water evaporation, and benefiting from a cooling effect that can increase module efficiency. Digitalisation and smart grid technologies address connectivity issues, ensuring more efficient distribution of generated solar energy, even in remote installations. AI-powered AgriPV systems are gaining traction, as a win-win integration of agriculture and solar energy, enabling dual land use for agriculture and energy production.
Equans’ expertise: combining global reach and local precision
With over 10 years of experience, Equans stands out as a seasoned global leader in energy and storage services, synonymous with client-centred commitment, innovation and the delivery of reliable and integrated solar and storage solutions. To date, the company has installed 5.5 GW of solar energy capacity and maintains approximately 2 GW of solar PV assets.
We have consolidated our position in 15 countries across five continents, including France, Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, the US, Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Our regionally anchored operational teams and international partnerships are key factors in the success, reliability and longevity of our projects, including:
- The recently inaugurated PV power plant in Romilly-sur-Seine, the second largest in France, with 80,000 solar panels and a projected annual output of 42.7 GW that will meet the needs of 11,500 homes.
- The installation of Belgium’s largest PV floating park, and the construction of the first solar energy test platform in the Belgian North Sea.
With the expected surge in electricity demand, solar projects will grow in size and complexity, making their integration into the power system challenging while maintaining transmission capacity and grid stability. Incorporating a greater share of intermittent renewable energy sources necessitates advanced expertise in high-voltage (HV) and battery systems across generation and distribution networks, contingent upon grid stability and other available power generation options.
Enter Equans Solar & Storage
In this environment, industries and businesses are looking for a reliable, world-class expert as a partner and expect comprehensive solutions that align top performance and profitability. Cost-efficiency and on-time delivery are critical. That's why we've leveraged our decade-long industry experience and combined our best engineers and technicians in photovoltaics and high voltage into a single one-stop entity: Equans Solar & Storage.
With 550 MWh of battery storage capacity already installed worldwide, Equans Solar & Storage offers solar and storage solutions that span the entire value chain from design and planning to operation, installation, monitoring and maintenance.
Distributed energy storage systems are a crucial corollary to large-scale solar projects. Implementing them requires operational precision and deep expertise to rethink business models, optimise existing energy systems, understand customer needs, and coordinate PV projects according to local consumption – and do it at scale.
Equans brings together honed precision through its terrain-based teams operating alongside our clients with the ability to provide localised and industry-specific solutions on a global scale through our partner network. This was recently showcased in our strategic collaboration with Swedish solar energy leader Solkompaniet to meet Sweden’s need for 100 MW + solar parks with the objective of reaching the country’s large-scale sustainable energy goals.