Engie takes control of a subsidiary

ENGIE and SOPER, respectively 59% and 41% shareholders of La Compagnie du Vent, have announced the signing of a share sales agreement by which, once the usual conditions precedent are met, La Compagnie du Vent will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of ENGIE.

La Compagnie du Vent was created in 1989 and today has 150 employees and an operating capacity of 423 MW in wind power and 88 MWc in solar photovoltaic electricity. In 2016, these production assets generated 815,000 MWh, the equivalent in annual electricity consumption, including heating, of some 340,000 individuals. In 2016, La Compagnie du Vent invested more than €88 million (US$93 million) for the development and construction of new onshore wind farms and ground mounted photovoltaic solar power installations.

La Compagnie du Vent’s innovativeness and dynamism were demonstrated very recently with its success in the latest Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) request for solar energy proposals. The company made the most competitive pricing proposals for large (19 MW) and small-scale (5 MW) photovoltaic shade structures. La Compagnie du Vent’s agility and capacity to adapt, both in wind and solar power, will provide ENGIE a major advantage in the acceleration of its development of renewable energy in France.

Indeed, by 2021, ENGIE has set targets of some 3 GW in wind energy and approximately 2.2 GW in solar power.

Gwenaelle Huet, CEO of ENGIE’s France Renewable Energy Business Unit declared: 

“With this full acquisition, once more the group demonstrates its leadership in France’s energy transition and strengthens its positions as the country’s nº 1 in both wind power, with installed capacity of 1,730 MW, and solar energy with 522 MWc of installed capacity. La Compagnie du Vent is a high performance subsidiary that has increased installed capacity more than five-fold since ENGIE made its equity investment in 2007. We are very proud to become its sole shareholder today.”

Jean-Michel Germa, founder of La Compagnie du Vent and Chairman of SOPER, stated: 

”La Compagnie du Vent, France’s wind power pioneer, benefits from a tremendous wealth of know-how and human capital, and I wish this operation will enable this outstanding company to keep its position in the energy transition. Now, a new chapter begins that will enable me to devote myself to other projects important to me in my continuing commitment to renewable energy, such as solar heat (Sunti) and deep-sea energy storage (MGH).”