Using wind and solar to power trains
Through long-term renewable electricity PPAs, SNCF Energie—an SNCF Voyageurs subsidiary—supports our goal of sourcing 40% to 50% of rail traction power from renewables by 2030.
How corporate PPAs help us decarbonize
SNCF Energie, a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, has long been responsible for purchasing electricity for rail traction. Since 2018, it has headed our corporate PPA programme. Through Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), we purchase electricity directly from renewable sources, primarily wind and solar installations, as part of our commitment to source 40-50% of train traction power from renewables by 2030. PPAs alone will account for 20% of that total.
This target is also a concrete response to the ever higher bar set by Transport Organizing Authorities in their specifications.
GWh
of electricity a year generated by solar and wind installations by 2027-2028
Our main corporate PPAs
Explore SNCF Energie’s key long-term contracts with renewable energy partners.
Four 20-25 year contracts with Neoen
Starting 1 January 2026, Neoen—France’s leading independent producer of renewal energy—will supply 137 GWh of renewable electricity to SNCF Voyageurs each year. SNCF Energie and Neoen have signed four corporate PPAs covering a period of 20 to 25 years. The electricity will be generated exclusively by solar farms set up across France, including Romilly (Grand Est), Lorécopark (Sarth), Champblanc (Chartente) and Labouheyre (Landes). This renewable power will be used to run TGV trains operated by SNCF Voyhageurs and is equivalent to the electricity consumption of the annual 11,000 TGV journeys between Paris and Bordeaux.
4
solar farms covered by these contracts
137 GWh
of electricity produced each year from renewable sources
Equal to the
11,000
TGV journeys between Paris and Bordeaux each year
A wind farm dedicated to rail traction
The challenge: power our trains with green energy equal to the total annual electricity consumption of high-speed services serving the Paris-Strasbourg, Paris-Nancy and Strasbourg-Nantes lines. That’s the mission of the Cheniers Énergies wind farm in the Marne region of northeastern France.
Officially inaugurated on 15 May 2025 by SNCF Energie, a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, and Valorem Group, the site comes 12 months after the signature of a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under this 25-year agreement, long-standing green energy player Valorem Group will supply 100% of wind farm’s output to SNCF Energie.
8
wind turbines, each with a tip height of 180 metres
Annual output
93 GWh
of electricity a year—enough to power over 20,000 households
The equivalent of
4,278 t
of CO2e emissions avoided annually
A 20-year contract
Soon almost one-quarter of the electricity used each year by TER regional trains in the Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes region will come from the sun.
On 7 October 2025, SNCF Energie and CVE, an independent solar power producer, signed a 20-year direct purchase agreement to supply around 60 GWh of renewable electricity annually.
All of this energy will come from CVE’s new solar plant at Les Genêts, currently under construction in Domérat, in France’s Allier department. The facility is scheduled to begin operating in February 2027.
20-year
contract links SNCF Energie and CVE
Nearly
¼
of electricity consumed by AURA-region TER trains will come from the contract
In
2027
a dedicated solar facility will begin operating
Enough electricity to power 6,780 households
In December 2023, SNCF Énergie and SOLVEO Energies signed a 25-year corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). This long-term partnership enabled SOLVEO Energies to complete construction of a wind farm in France’s Cher department that began operating in May 2024.
The facility supplies 32.5 GWh of renewable electricity each year to SNCF Énergie for rail traction at SNCF Voyageurs—equal to the annual power consumption of 6,780 households, or the yearly energy needs of Intercités services between Bordeaux and Marseille, or TER services between Paris and Le Havre.
32.5 GWh
of electricity supplied by SOLVEO Energie each year
25-year
contract between SNCF Énergie and SOLVEO Energies
35,000 t
of CO2 avoided thanks to this PPA with SOLVEO Energies
Protection from price volatility
These long-term power supply contracts allow SNCF Voyageurs to secure a nearly fixed electricity price over 20 to 25 years, offering protection against fluctuations in energy markets.
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