New Sun King Found in the Figure of a French Farmer

The blanket of snow in France is thawed out by the bright winter sun, but more than it waxing poetic it has also been a symbol of something in the business world. As the snow melts on the barn rooftops, a newer tomorrow is in place for Jean-Luc Westphal – as he looks forward to his new sideline of providing solar power for a couple thousand homes in the region. This is his second venture apart from being a producer of eggs and grains in the region. While the economic crisis may have casted much doubt regarding the funding hopes of a lot of projects regarding renewable energy, all is not lost. Currently, there are giant panels being built onto rooftops all around the sloping farm area of the Vosges hills. This region in eastern France is pretty much attracting the attention of all – from farmers all the way to financiers.

New Incentives for Farm Workers

Westphal is but one of the steadily growing band of farm workers who represent the biggest agricultural producers in the European Union. More importantly, he is also part of a new group that has decided to take newer incentives for this solar power technology as supplementary farm income which can also help the country meet its targets in the renewable energy side. Jean-Luc Leonhart mentions that their side of the country endeavors to go further than the tried and tested agricultural stance in order to come up with another way to earn an income. Leonhart, who is also a former classmate of Westphal, went to see his friend’s project thinking that he too could install such solar panels on his very own farm. Theirs is a mountainous region which is known for the delectable Munster-Gerome cheeses as well as high quality white wines – and in such a place, something like Westphal’s project is relegated to the grander scales.

Big Expectations of Big Projects

Westphal’s built-in panels are pretty much part of the biggest integration of photovoltaic system installations. It generals electricity straight from solar power and has yet to see success in a very wide scale. Such is a twenty million euro (equivalent to twenty six million United States dollars) investment that requires the construction of five massive sheds that can cover thirty-six thousand square meters of pure solar panels. These panels will have the capacity to come up with four point five megawatts of pure electrical energy. That amount alone ought to cover the power consumption of up to four thousand homes. Westphal agrees that such is a big gamble, but one worth undertaking because of the hard-to-ignore positive possibilities. Such a sizable project will be combined with a long-term contract of electricity backed up with a government guarantee.