The airport goes into holiday mode for families
Discover the programme of activities planned during the Cool Kids event at your favourite airport during the 2025 All Saints' Day holidays.
In anticipation of an increase in its demand for power, as electrical aviation develops, Golfe de Saint-Tropez Airport has sought to establish a carbon-free power generation plant on its site that would be compatible with the natural onsite risks and help to bring back sheep farming, which was the land’s historical usage. The solution provided by Vensolair, a subsidiary of Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, France's leading generater of 100% renewable electricity, consists of designing, building and operating a photovoltaic park.
Vensolair will conduct studies on a plot of just over 6 hectares, to design a project that reconciles farming practices with environmental issues. The arrays will be at least 1.5 metres high and spaced apart to allow farming machinery to pass through. This choice, which mechanically reduces photovoltaic yield, meets the airport's agricultural and environmental requirements. The trees already present around the identified site will filter the view of the farm, so that it will blend into the landscape at the edge of the airport runway. In addition, installing solar panels will reduce heat and water stress thanks to the shade they provide, while increasing the comfort of grazing sheep during the hot season.
After the environmental and agricultural studies have been completed, the planning application will be processed by government agencies. The solar PV farm is expected to be built in 2028, with commissioning planned for 2029. It is expected to generate 8 GWh annually, while the airport's estimated future needs, as electric aviation grows, will not exceed 1 GWh. The surplus will cover the equivalent electricity needs of the inhabitants of the village of La Môle and other neighbouring municipalities.
"This solution represents a double win. For the airport, it ensures carbon-free and economical generation that preserves the site's farming practices, and for the region, it is a local resource with no environmental impact," says Jean-François Guitard, Director of Business Aviation and Airport Development at Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur. "For more than 10 years, Nice Côte d'Azur, Cannes Mandelieu and Golfe de Saint-Tropez airports have been using only green electricity sourced in France. With this new solution, we are fully on course to achieve carbon neutrality without resorting to offsetting by 2030, in line with our decarbonisation roadmap."
"This project will revive traditional farming practices on this land, while contributing to national objectives for developing renewable energies and decarbonising energy use," says Christophe Soulier, Director of Development at Vensolair.
