French consortium building linear DC solar park along Rhône River
From pv magazine France
A nearly kilometer-long PV project featuring high-voltage direct current will be tested along the ViaRhôna cycle route in the Rhône Valley, marking a first for France.
The Ophélia project, backed by French environmental agency Ademe under the “France 2030” program, involves Nexans, Schneider Electric, SNCF, the SuperGrid Institute, and Compagnie nationale du Rhone (CNR).. Construction recently began in Caderousse, Vaucluse, on six shade structures comprising two-sloped arrays with three rows of 615 W bifacial monocrystalline modules, totaling 1 MW of capacity.
Civil engineering, structure assembly, and canopy installation will continue through the first quarter of 2025. The project is set to be operational by September 2025, with instrumentation monitoring running through 2028 to manage the experiment.
The “Viasolaire du Colombier” pilot project uses an innovative electrical design to minimize losses by transmitting electricity via high-voltage direct current instead of alternating current.
“Unlike a traditional park where the electricity from the modules (1,500 VDC voltage) is converted into alternating current (800 VAC) via inverters located in the immediate vicinity of the module strings, on a linear photovoltaic park, the electricity collected is transported over several kilometers, or even several dozen kilometers, to the delivery station, which potentially generates greater electrical losses,” Romain Jacquet, head of media relations and digital communication at CNR, told pv magazine France.
The proposed solution consists of significantly increasing the direct voltage near the PV module strings via DC/DC converters and then transporting the high-voltage direct current to the delivery station where it will be converted into alternating current.
“A high voltage makes it possible, for the same power, to reduce the current intensity and therefore the Joule effect losses. In addition, direct current transmission avoids losses related to the formation of reactive energy, which is inevitable in alternating current,” said Jacquet.
The pilot project serves as a platform to develop laboratory prototypes and test them under real conditions, addressing challenges posed by a lack of market-ready equipment. It includes DC/DC converters from SuperGrid Institute, high-voltage DC cells from Schneider Electric, and custom cables from Nexans, with a focus on enhancing reliability during normal operations, transitional phases, and insulation levels.
The Ophélia project marks a significant technological advance for linear photovoltaics along roads, cycle routes, riverbanks, and railways. CNR said this segment could add nearly 35 GW of capacity, supporting France’s solar targets of 54 GW to 60 GW by 2030 under the third multi-annual energy programming plan, without affecting natural environments by utilizing already artificialized surfaces.
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