CARBON announces CARBON Lab in France; ERG completes €500 million green bond; Greenvolt completes rooftop PV project in Portugal; Enviromena lands funding for Essex project, while ONDE secures funds for 32 MW in Poland.
Solar R&D in France: French solar technology startup CARBON has announced plans to develop CARBON Lab, its R&D and training center in France’s Istres within Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis. The center is scheduled to start operations in 2027. It will host the company’s research, development, and innovation center, focusing on production processes and photovoltaic products. Additionally, it will support part of the company’s training activities. In the 2nd phase, CARBON also plans to site a Solar Campus as the central hub for the ‘entire solar industry and beyond.’ This site will feature technical platforms and operational production equipment to facilitate these activities. It has secured a construction lease with the Metropolitan Council to locate the center on a 13.9-hectare site.
The €33 million ($35.37 million) project is supported by the state through the France 2030 program. It will help the company create 200 jobs in the metropolitan area, in addition to 3,000 jobs at the Fos-sur-Mer gigafactory with 5 GW of annual production capacity. CARBON says this new CARBON Lab initiative marks a significant step for the company in its journey to become the future European leader in the solar industry.
Green bonds issued: Independent power producer (IPP) from Italy, ERG SpA has completed the placement of a 6-year fixed-rate green bond for €500 million ($537 million). Proceeds will be allocated to wind, solar and battery storage projects in Europe, the UK and the US. This green bond issue is part of the company’s €3 billion ($3.22 billion) program for medium to long term, non-convertible and subordinated notes. The bond is exclusively addressed to Euromarket institutional investors. ERG said it was highly successful with a request at peak of more than 5 times the amount of notes offered. These will be listed on the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange on July 3, 2024.
1 MW Portuguese solar project: Portuguese diversified business conglomerate Teixeira Duarte has inaugurated a 1.17 MW solar power plant for self-consumption. Executed by Greenvolt, it has come up on the rooftop of the company’s Montijo Operational Center which is ‘an essential infrastructure for the development of the Teixeira Duarte Group’s activity, particularly in the Construction sector.’ The self-consumption production unit (UPAC) is equipped with 2,155 solar PV modules that will generate 1,716 MWh annually.
Funding for UK project: UK-headquartered clean energy services company Enviromena has raised £30 million ($38 million) funding for its Essex-located 70 MW solar farm. The financial deal with Close Brothers Energy includes a development and term loan facility to construct and operate the Medebridge Solar Farm near South Ockendon. It is a ready-to-build (RTB) project located on 175 acres of low-grade agricultural land. On completion in the summer of 2025, it will generate more than 71,000 MWh annually. Construction on site is ongoing. Enviromena counts its solar and storage pipeline as over 3 GW in the UK and Italy. Recently, the company also secured planning permission for its largest self-developed solar project to date in Christchurch, Dorset with 42.43 MW of capacity.
ONDE’s Polish projects move forward: Polish renewable energy company ONDE has secured a PLN 87 million ($21.6 million) financing for its 32 MW solar PV park in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Its subsidiary signed loan agreements with mBank to raise this financing that’s due to be completed by April 2025-end. ONDE recently signed agreements with special purpose vehicles (SPV) of Luneos Green Energy to construct 3 solar PV farms with a combined 51 MW capacity. ONDE closed the deal for PLN 56.3 million ($14 million) to bring the projects online at the end of Q1/2025.
