Ineos plans to build park with 90,000 solar panels in Wallonia

British chemical company Ineos Inovyn, a vinyl producer, plans to build the largest solar park in Wallonia next to its plant in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, the company announced on Friday.

The park will be built on an Ineos site, and an underground cable will be used to send power to the factory. The power generated by the solar panels will cover 10 per cent of Ineos' electricity needs in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre from 2024.

With 90,000 solar panels on an area of 30 hectares, equivalent to 56 football fields, the scale of the project is enormous. The solar panels should generate over 57,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Ineos is investing "several tens of millions of euros" in the solar park, according to a spokesperson. The Walloon government is providing subsidies for the project in the form of green certificates.

^{An INEOS plant in Antwerp © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}