A community on the Loire in France has come up with a solar-powered idea that will clear two hurdles in a single leap.
The town of Saint-Joachim is located near the Brière marsh, a peat bog that becomes easily inundated with water. The local graveyard rests at 0 feet above sea level and standing water has become a major problem.
The mayor eventually proposed covering the graveyard to divert the rainwater into catch tanks to water the grass around the cemetery and nearby sporting complex in the dry summer months.
Solar panels—clear, see-through ones, were also proposed for the otherwise basic overhead covering, with each resident receiving a letter explaining the proposal and asking for their opinion on the idea.
97% of Saint-Joachim’s residents liked the concept and a power-sharing scheme was quickly determined whereby each resident would pay €5.00 for a share of the power generated there, which might be enough to supply around 1,000 people with enough solar power to save a couple hundred euro every year on their electric bills.
The power company in charge of the project designed an algorithm that gathers data on energy usage and determines how much each home needs to meet a fixed percentile of their overall consumption. That way everyone, from a supermarket to the hairdresser to a single-family home, receives the same energy savings from the cemetery solar power.
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The municipality will fully finance the €3.35 million ($3.6 million), 1.2-acre installation, using a 7% property tax increase.
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“I think it is a beautiful idea,” Éric Broquaire, local resident and president of Brier’energie, told Euronews. “The purpose was to make it simple, to avoid someone saying ‘why don’t I have electricity for free’. Everybody, even companies, will have the same level.”
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