Santerno will deliver 84 inverters, Sunway™ TG730, to be installed on five French factories, worth a total of 55 MW. Renault launched its solar Energy project by installing solar roof panels on the car shelters of its French plants located in Douai, Maubeuge, Flins, Batilly, Sandouville. The panels will eventually cover a total area of 416,000 m2, equivalent to more than 55 football fields, offering an installed power capacity of 55 MW; the annual consumption of a town with a population of 15,000.By using renewable solar energy, Renault will cut CO2 emissions by 30,000 tonnes a year. Work on the photovoltaic project is expected to be complete by February 2012.

The installation of solar panels at manufacturing plants is a sign of Renault’s long-standing commitment to the environment, expressed in the eco2 policy. And the range of affordable electric vehicles is the flagship development of that commitment. The project is part of Renault 2016 - Drive The Change, Renault’s strategic plan to reduce its carbon footprint by10% by 2013 and by a further 10% between 2013 and 2016. With the solar roof project, Renault is showing its concern to conserve resources by diversifying the energy mix used to generate electricity, and particularly by using renew able energy sources. 

"Santerno is proud to provide its PV inverters in such a significant Green-tech project for energy independence and efficiency of innovative industrial sites. Producing energy from renewable sources near the major users reduces the losses of conversion / transport and thus eliminates the need for a power grids resizing" said Franco Valentini, Marketing Director of Santerno, and added "This plant represents a further application of Smart Grid technology that Santerno has integrated in all its product lines for renewable energy generation, storage, industrial automation and electric mobility. 

Alfredo Gonzalez-Izquierdo, Production Director of Gestamp Solar said: “This project is an example of integration and sustainability, because it combines production of clean energy, protection to the vehicle before is delivered and an improvement in the labor conditions” he also added “It is the biggest project in Europe with this characteristics” .