Construction has started on what Urbasolar says will be France’s largest rooftop solar installation, as the developer builds a 17.5 MW system on the Delta 3 multimodal logistics platform in northern France.

The project is being developed on the Omega building at the Delta 3 platform in Dourges, in the Hauts-de-France region, near Lille. The logistics hub, led primarily by local authorities, has long planned to integrate rooftop solar and is partially occupied by PepsiCo, which employs about 450 people at the site.

Following a tender concluded in 2024, French independent power producer Urbasolar was selected to finance, design, supply, build, and operate the system under a 30-year lease agreement.

The installation will cover 128,568 square meters and is divided into 12 sections of 10,714 square meters each. About 50% of construction has been completed, Maria Pedicini, France business development director at Urbasolar, told pv magazine France.

The system will use 28,971 Jinko Solar modules rated at 465 W, connected to about 100 inverters. Once completed, Urbasolar says it will be the largest single-span rooftop solar installation in Europe. By comparison, an 18-MW rooftop system in Germany is distributed across multiple buildings.

Pedicini said the project is technically complex due to the size of the roof and the need to coordinate multiple trades working in parallel, requiring detailed planning and phased execution.

Commissioning is scheduled for late 2026 or early 2027. The system is expected to generate up to 17 GWh of electricity per year, including about 1 GWh consumed on site at the Omega building. The remaining output will be fed into the grid and sold under a French Energy Regulation Commission tender awarded to Urbasolar at the end of 2024. The company did not disclose the strike price.