Every year, the Issoudun malting plant processes around 200,000 tonnes of malting barley from the Champagne Bérichonne and Beauce regions, an activity that requires a great deal of heat. With a view to reducing the use of gas and supplementing the energy produced by the biomass plant, which has been on site since 2012, a 10 MW solar thermal power plant has been built thanks to the signing of a 20-year Heat Supply Contract.
Solar thermal collectors are used to produce hot water. This is stored in a tank and then transmitted to the malting plant as and when required. More concretely, the water heated by the panels is used to preheat the air in the malthouse, enabling the barley to be dried. To do this, the air must be heated to 50°C, then gradually to 85°C. The solar thermal power plant enables the temperature to be raised to 40°C before the biomass takes over.
Thanks to its 14,252 m² of panels, the solar thermal power plant generates 8.5 GWh of sustainable, low-carbon heat per year, representing around 10% of the site’s needs. The 3,000-cubic-meter storage facility ensures that solar energy is available without intermittence, day and night.
The project has received an ADEME grant of 3 million euros.