SNCF says it wants to dedicate 1,000 hectares of land to solar power to cover 20% of its electricity consumption by the end of the decade. French rail operator SNCF said this week it had launched a new clean energy unit, SNCF Renouvelables.
SNFC has 15,000 trains per day and 3,000 stations and industrial buildings, and has become the largest electricity consumer in France with 9 TWh of annual electricity consumption, of which 8 TWh is used for train electrification.
SNCF Renouvelables plans to develop 1 GW of photovoltaic power plants on its 1,000 hectares of land, aiming to meet 20% of its electricity needs by 2030. The SNCF is the second largest landowner in France after the state, with landholdings totaling around 100,000 hectares, a fraction of which this initial phase occupies.
"The cost of electricity consumption more than doubling in 2022 and 2023 means that the electricity bill for train traction in these two years alone exceeds 700 million euros ($764.6 million)," said SNCF president Jean-Pierre Farrandou.
SNCF, through its subsidiary SNCF Gares et Connexions, already uses solar panels on station roofs or in the shade to generate electricity for its own consumption.
The SNCF Energie division has also been piloting a “corporate PPA” program since 2018 and has signed several PPAs, including one with French energy giant EDF, one with Switzerland’s Axpo, and one with French independent power producer Reden.