The 60th edition of the Salon International de l'Agriculture made the spotlight on solutions innovative solutions that meet the crucial challenges of agricultural issuesclimatic hazardssviability, resource management... For this event, Ombrea and TotalEnergies gave their vision ofagrivoltaics and and the keys to their expertise. Dive into these 9 days exciting at the the Ferme Digitale stand.
A vision of partnership ofagrivoltaics for create value for farmers and local communities
Since its creation in 2016, Ombrea has been developing agrivoltaic solutions dedicated to the climatic protection of crops. Following its acquisition by TotalEnergies (September 2023), integration within the Group will enable the new subsidiary to accelerate and intensify its efforts in terms of technological know-how; developing digital and modeling tools, useful for precision agriculture. Its agri-energy solutions thus combine synergy between agricultural production and energy production, responding to farm challenges such as:
- Compensate for climatic contingencies (drought, hail, frost, etc.)
- Preserving water resources
- Improving animal welfare
- Diversify sources of income (promote a sector, produce solar-generated electricity, etc.).
By exhibiting at the Digital Farm - the Agri-tech hub of the Salon International de l'Agriculture (SIA) - Ombrea and its teams were able to discuss its missions and objectives with the ecosystem, with a view to deploying technologies that contribute to the long-term viability of farms. It was an ideal opportunity to defend a virtuous agrivoltaic system that brings value to the region.
What does this mean? For Nicolas Ferras, Agri-Energies Director at TotalEnergies and Managing Director of Ombrea, it necessarily involves a better understanding of the agricultural world and its constraints. It's a collective effort in which farmers themselves are the driving force. Each Ombrea agrivoltaic project - supported by TotalEnergies - is co-constructed in conjunction with stakeholders and the local area, in order to respond to a climatic, agronomic or economic issue.... In this sense, solar energy technology and production must not replace agricultural activity.
WatchNicolas Ferras' full interview with BFM Business.
The Hackaton Gaiaa challenge brilliantly met by teams fromOmbrea!
At the SIA Pro trade show, Ombrea seized the opportunity to take part in the hackathon. The team, made up of data scientists and agricultural engineers, took advantage of the Mistral AI model. The objective? To test the potential of generative AI to respond to farmers' problems. At the end of two days of intense and fruitful work, Jean-Baptiste, Elodie, Etienne and Mathilde came up with an intelligent chatbot which, based on a farmer's economic and climatic constraints, suggests a crop to plant on his field.
An effective and very concrete demonstration of the potential of technology to help farmers. Relive the hackathon experience with Jean-Baptiste Pasquier (Ombrea).
SIA Pro: key players meet to exchange expertise Ombrea
Two Ombrea and TotalEnergies conferences on agrivoltaics brought together a number of players, including Société du Canal de Provence (SCP) - a long-standing partner of Ombrea - FEDER (farmers' cooperatives), and FFPA (Fédération Française des Producteurs Agrivoltaïques). These wide-ranging discussions provide a better understanding of the challenges of agri-energy by sector, from adapting farming practices to climate change, to maintaining adequate farm incomes.
The participants reiterated the importance of involving farmers and representatives of the agricultural sector in all phases of the development of an agrivoltaic project.
It's also an opportunity to take a step back and share feedback. With this in mind, the ten or so pilot sites spread across France serve precisely to study the evolution and specific features of the projects. These demonstrators are subject to agronomic monitoring, adapted to the crop and carried out by an industry expert. By way of example, the Apt plot in the Lubéron region (plum tree cultivation - a project run jointly by Société du Canal de Provence and Ombrea) takes account of sustainable water management, made possible by differentiated irrigation. R&D results will be published in 2024.
This complementarity of skills (water management, agronomic expertise, shade control) between the different players means that solutions can be deployed as close as possible to the constraints of the farm, while meeting the needs of the crops. In particular, Ombrea's expertise enables it to adapt different technologies to different sectors: field crops; vertical bifacial panels, arboriculture and market gardening; trackers...
Marie Caulier, R&D Innovation Project Manager (Ombrea) spoke to BFMTV about the agronomic benefits of agrivoltaic systems for crops.
So, while Ombrea's expertise is based on technical and technological know-how, agrivoltaics must provide very concrete answers to the problems encountered by a farmer on his farm. An agrivoltaic project is a global project. It is part of an agricultural project, involving all stakeholders and respecting the framework set out in the APER law.
The 9-day show highlighted the keen interest shown by the agricultural world in agrivoltaics and agri-energy solutions. In other words, how to co-construct meaningful projects with all stakeholders, bringing value to farms and regions. The Ombrea and TotalEnergies teams are passionate about these issues, and are committed to meeting the challenges facing farmers.
Deploying sustainable, high-performance solutions is Ombrea's raison d'être, to support agriculture in its transition!
