At our association: "Centre Energies renouvelables Phebus Ariège ",
we act for the developement of renewable energies in the south of France. We started in 1993, with grid-tied photovoltaic electricity. We now have a wide range of activities.

Presently, only a few hundred homes and local communities in France are equipped with grid inertied photovoltaics, but their number is increasing steadily. They are usually equipped with 1100 to 2200 watts of "Photowatt" or "Isophoton" PVs, connected to the grid via one or two SMA "Sunny Boy" synchronous inverters. NO BATTERIES.  These projects have benefited from grants by the EC, up to 40% of the total cost from 1993 to 1997, and arond 50% now. The present cost is around 4000 € for 1100 Watts peak power, inverter and wiring included. Net metereing is applied by the French utility EdF (Electricité de France) :
for systems built defore 2000, the electricity was bought and sold at the same retail price = 0.11 € / kWh.
for systems built as of 1/2002, the electricity is bought by EdF 0.15 € / kWh and sold at the usual 0.11 € / kWh (taxes included).

At Phebus Ariège , we also help people get information about all kinds of RE technologies and their availability for everyday use, we organize "hands on" courses for free or non profit costs in schools, universities, fairs,
and thanks to funding by l'ADEME , a French governement agency, we handle a "point Info Energie" since 1997 : answers by phone to questions related to RE , in French: tel: (33) 5 61 68 62 17.

We also organize solar vehicle rallies. See below.

Check a couple of other sites:

Hespul R.E. in the Rhone Alpes region

Home Power magazine to stay tuned for the last news on renewable enrgy in the US.

Many other links at Phebus Ariège .

Solar shower in Bolivia

Your own solar electricity: do it !

Solar transportation