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The European energy landscape is evolving, and France is emerging as a notable player in the field of solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) for businesses. But government support is essential to unlock the full potential of this market.

Agrivoltaism is a leading figure in European solar development strategies and France stands out for the appetite of its industrial and institutional investors in this segment.

Renewable energy analytics firm Enerdatics finds that in the UK, Germany and Spain, M&A is dominated by asset and portfolio deals, while in France these do not have represented only a fifth of the volume of transactions since 2019. In France, it is in fact corporate buyouts and investments that have dominated the mergers and acquisitions landscape.

Alantra launched N-Sun Energy – in partnership with Solarig, with backing from Reichmuth and Amundi. N-Sun will be backed by €1bn in debt financing and €700mn in equity capital. Enerdatics research, aggregate solar PV capacity in Italy more than doubled y/y to more than 5 GW in 2022, while the capacity in Spain declined slightly to 27 GW during the year.

The project is being developed by WestWind, a company that oil major Shell a in earlier in 2022. According to Enerdatics’ research, the advent of innovative financial structures and products that are emerging for renewables investments has reduced the necessity of a PPA, with several projects now operating on a fully-merchant basis.

“The portfolio’s total enterprise value (EV) is $1 billion, implying an EV multiple of $4 million/MW for the transaction. The projects comprise 70 MW of operational capacity spanning three PV plants and 180 MW of under-construction capacity across five PV plants,” reported Enerdatics.