The solarist Corsica Sole and the vanilla cooperative of Bras-Panon ProVanille inaugurated, last April 25, in Bras-Panon on the Bellevue site, photovoltaic shade houses specially designed for vanilla cultivation. Six greenhouses equipped with photovoltaic panels were installed among vanilla producers.
The Corsican company Corsica Sole is an independent producer of solar energy., leader in energy storage in Europe. Specialist in island areas, Corsica Sole develops, built, has been financing and operating its own projects since 2009, notably, in the overseas departments, in Guadeloupe and Reunion. Corsica Sole has already set up an electricity storage unit with a capacity of 10 MWh on the island and will install solar panels on the roofs of around forty colleges.. With this shade project, the company is somehow returning to its very first beginnings in Corsica, where she had developed several projects combining solar panels and agriculture. However, the photovoltaic shade houses that it designed specially for the island's vanilla plantations constitute a novelty and a real technical advance in terms of agrivoltaism.. The installation of greenhouses equipped with photovoltaic panels has been designed to best recreate the conditions of light and humidity of an undergrowth., where vanilla plants like to grow. The shadow : 75% shading rate under the shade, only 25% of the light filters through the panels, the right temperature for growing vanilla is between 25 and 32 degrees. Regular irrigation : rainwater is collected to then irrigate the plants. Six shades have been installed on this model : three in Sainte-Rose, one in Bras-Panon, one in Saint-André and one in Sainte-Suzanne. On the Bellevue site in Bras-Panon, the 222 photovoltaic panels deliver electricity production of 100 kWp.
Vanilla plants under protection
Photovoltaic greenhouses have many advantages. The nets in place on the sides of the greenhouses, and the shades placed on top, form a physical barrier around vanilla plants. Fewer insect pests attack vanilla plants, and the use of pesticides is therefore greatly reduced. Finally, the shades have been designed to withstand extreme weather conditions (cyclones, heavy rain, strong winds, too hot...). During the passage of cyclone Belal, last January, no shade house suffered damage, and the vanilla plants located below suffered no damage.
New growing spaces for vanilla
“We want to provide solutions to help move towards ever greater energy autonomy.. We believe that the ecological transition must be carried out in a concerted approach with the territories, by promoting regional actors and dialogue with local experts. It is with this in mind that Corsica Sole approached ProVanille for the implementation of this shade house project specially designed for the optimal development of vanilla plants”, explained Paul Antoniotti, president and one of the founders of Corsica Sole. “This collaboration is interesting because it allows farmers to expand their cultivation area, usually reserved for spaces in the undergrowth. Furthermore, the recovery of rainwater and the reduction of the presence of harmful insects in greenhouses under shade are assets for our plantations”, for his part welcomed Willy Boyer, president of ProVanille.
