Agrial Food Site Adds France’s Largest Solar Thermal Plant

Newheat is building a low carbon heat system for Agrial’s food processing site in Herbignac, western France, centered on what the developer describes as the country’s largest solar thermal plant. The project was announced on September 17, 2026.

The installation is designed for 18.5 megawatts of thermal capacity, about 22,000 square meters of solar collectors and a 4,000 cubic meter thermal storage tank. Newheat expects it to deliver close to 10,700 megawatt hours of renewable heat each year.

That heat will serve eight industrial consumers across five production processes at the Herbignac site. The network is being designed around different temperature and availability requirements, an important distinction because food plants need reliable heat for several operations rather than a single uniform load.

Newheat will design, develop, finance and operate the infrastructure under a long term heat supply contract. Agrial therefore will buy delivered heat without funding the main plant itself or managing the engineering program, while Newheat carries responsibility for supply over the contract term.

The developer estimates the system will displace about 12 percent of the site’s natural gas use. It projects annual avoidance of nearly 1,360 tonnes of carbon dioxide and more than 34,000 tonnes across 25 years, figures that remain forecasts until operating data are available.

The system combines solar heat, thermal storage, advanced controls and a distribution network built to accept additional lower carbon heat sources later. That modular design matters because the solar plant covers only part of the factory’s demand and does not eliminate the need for other heat sources.

France’s ADEME energy agency and the Pays de la Loire Region are providing financial support, although Newheat’s announcement does not state the amounts. The project also fits France’s stated goal of doubling renewable heat production by 2032.

For processors, the commercial test will be whether the contracted heat remains reliable and cost competitive against gas while handling several production temperatures. If it does, the Herbignac model could offer other food plants a route to reduce fuel exposure without taking direct ownership of a large energy asset.