A few cubic meters of concrete, a solid metal pole and 117 square meters of solar panels. Placed in the middle of a grassy field on a farm in Piré-Chancé, south-east of Rennes, this brand new photovoltaic tracker cost its new owner just over 50,000 euros. Chicken breeder from Janzé, Nicolas Giboire did not hesitate long to make this investment, as it made sense to him. Faced like the whole profession with soaring energy costs, farmers can now rely on solid electricity production which should allow them to be more than 60 or even 70% self-sufficient. “I hope to pay it off in ten or eleven years. But it may be less, it will depend a lot on the price of energy, ”explains the 32-year-old breeder.
On this cold Monday morning in February, Nicolas Giboire relishes the great blue sky that dominates his farm, mixing poultry and dairy cows. Because since the installation of this famous “tracker”, the breeder can monitor in real time what he produces and thus adapt his day to connect when the sun is strongest. “I changed some habits. I programmed the water heaters so that they turn on during the day, for example”. For morning milking, where his electricity consumption is high but his production low, he can count on an advantageous storage contract offered by Enedis. In short, when the sun is shining, the breeder is jubilant.
The young farmer is not the only one to have made this choice to install a solar tracker. Within its cooperative of chickens from Janze, which includes 170 farms, 64 other installations have been carried out in recent months. “The decision had been taken before the turmoil, but with the increases in electricity, it had become obvious. We invest to be actors of our self-consumption and to save energy. Other breeders are already interested”, assures Marina Maussion. The new president of the cooperative has also chosen the solar tracker to supply the five chicken coops of her operation with electricity. “We hope to cover 100% of our needs,” she says. The farm’s electric vehicle, for example, is charged during the day with 100% renewable energy.
A solution “without public subsidy”
The cooperative’s collective initiative stems from a merger with the company OKWind, based in the neighboring town of Torcé (Ille-et-Vilaine). Founded in 2009, the company specializes in the installation of self-consumption systems for individuals and farmers. “When we produce energy, it belongs to us. We are thus aware that we must use it better,” explains its co-founder Louis Maurice. The president of the company is delighted to have found a solution “which makes sense” with an economic model “without public subsidy”.
The twist in the story is that poultry farmers are more dependent on gas, which is essential for heating their poultry houses. A resource whose price has soared in recent months, against the backdrop of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “We are not big consumers of electricity”, recognizes Marina Maussion. Here too, his cooperative was clever, investing in a methanisation unit, which has just produced its first cubic meters in Janzé. Fifty-five breeders, including 38 members of the cooperative, have come together around this project, which offers them greener and, above all, cheaper gas.
Native of the town, the climatologist Jean Jouzel was present to provide his support for these two projects. For the scientist, these investments made by farmers are going in the right direction. “France has fallen behind in the development of renewable energies. For me, their development will go through the dynamism of the territories. Everything happens in the agricultural world because it is the farmers who own the land”. The rural environment definitely has plenty of energy to spare.