Game-changer solar energy storage solution

Comprised of a photovoltaic power plant and energy storage system, the Toucan project is a way of integrating renewable energy, with its unpredictable nature, into existing grids. The power plant is coupled with storage batteries and control-command management software that provides the grid manager with a daily electricity production forecast.

A solution for French Guiana

In cases such as France’s overseas administrative department Guiana, 7,000 km from continental France, electricity grids are by nature less robust as they are more isolated. In the future, they will also be increasingly reliant on renewable energy. The intermittence of renewables, or their production unpredictability, is therefore felt more acutely here than elsewhere. The Toucan project, developed by the Montsinéry-Tonnégrande site, is a game-changer because it provides a solution to this problem.

One project, three “bricks”

Toucan is:

• a photovoltaic power plant equipped with thin-film panels
• a battery storage system that contributes to the grid’s stability by absorbing any surplus solar energy and feeding it into the grid when required
• very precise daily production forecasts.

And tomorrow?

By showing that large-scale storage of solar power is possible, EDF is paving the way to further growth for renewables.