Francis Auriol, breeder in Fanjeaux (Aude): “the agrivoltaic installations generate me a gross minimum wage every month”

Francis Auriol, éleveur ovin à Fanjeaux, dans l’Aude. Les installations agrivoltaïques lui ont permis de sauver l’exploitation familiale.

L’éleveur audois a passé un contrat avec Engie Green pour couvrir 27 hectares de son exploitation sur une durée de 40 ans.

His farm is saved. By signing a 40-year contract with the operator Engie Green, Francis Auriol, soon to be fifty, can see it coming. “The agrivoltaic installations generate me about a gross minimum wage per month”, he says happily.

The idea was born towards the end of the 2000s. It was his brother Gérard, then at the head of the family farm, who initiated it. “My brother took over my parents' suckler cow farm in 1997,” he says. It was in receivership. He managed to clear the debts, but the mad cow epidemic brought everything down. He couldn't get things back on track.”.

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Sheep instead of cows

To get by, he had the idea of ​​installing a solar energy park on the 37 hectares of the farm. Just to generate some income. In 2021, the installations, developed by Engie Green, were inaugurated. On a little over 27 hectares in the end.

Since the structures were “not suitable for cattle”, Francis, who took over the farm after his brother's health problems, began a reconversion: he bought a flock of red label sheep. This commitment with Engie Green “allowed me to set up after my brother and to relaunch the dynamics of the operation”.

“The banks followed me”

But, above all, it reopened the doors of the banks to him. “Thanks to this 40-year contract, the banks followed me, they allowed me to invest”, he rejoices. With Engie Green, “we negotiated a royalty from the start that is paid annually”. This is negotiated “per hectare”. It also includes the park maintenance service, namely “the grinding of grass under and between the panels”.

The fee “is not considered professional income, but private”. While the terms of the contract remain confidential, Francis Auriol agrees to specify that it brings him “approximately a gross minimum wage every month”. Which is not insignificant, when you consider the difficulties encountered by farmers today.

“Dismountable” structures in 40 years

The photovoltaic panels installed on his land serve as “roofs” for his animals. “They are protected from the sun, but also from the rain”, he rejoices. In addition, “the installation of the panels has not changed the structure of the soil in any way”. Better still, in the summer, at the height of summer, “the grass under the panels remains cool, which is good for the animals, while those located in full sun, between the installations, are quickly burned”.

Finally, there is the future. “It doesn't change anything. In 40 years, we will be able, if we want, to have our meadows back. It will be enough to demonstrate the structures of the panels, there is nothing built in concrete here”. Everything “can go back to how it was before”.