VINCI is continuing to decarbonize its airport portfolio. The airport operator has just announced the launch of a large-scale solar power plant at Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport. The plant will consist of a set of umbars (photovoltaic panels laid out flat like a roof) that will cover the Lyon airport's 5,800-space parking lot.

Spreading over 14 hectares, it will be able to produce 24 GWh of green energy annually, equivalent to the consumption of 9,000 inhabitants. The project has been awarded to a consortium involving the companies Neoen and SunMind (a subsidiary of VINCI Concessions dedicated to solar energy), which will design, finance, build and operate the plant until 2047. Committed to developing their solar potential since 2016, VINCI Airports already has a capacity of more than 40 MWp (mega-watt peak) with airport power plants in operation at its airports in the UK, Portugal, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. VINCI Airports is aiming to exploit a potential exceeding 1 GWp.

"Airports are places of opportunity for photovoltaic production, which is why VINCI Airports has been committed to the development of airport solar power plants for several years now. They allow us to decarbonize our own consumption, but also to contribute to the energy transition of the territories, by injecting the electricity we produce into the network, as we will soon do in Lyon," explains Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and Chairman of VINCI Airports.