Octopus Energy’s generation arm announces a new solar investment that will save French farmers millions of euros, as it rapidly ramps up its green energy activity in the country.
Octopus has added 100 rooftop solar projects on French farms to its portfolio through its acquisition of Sungen 10 from ELECO. Octopus will also work with ELECO and local partners to build up to 100MW new rooftop solar projects at hundreds of French farms by 2030.
The partners will build large sheds with solar panels on the rooftops on farmers’ land. Farmers benefit from using the new buildings for free to store equipment, vehicles and hay, saving tens of thousands of euros they’d have each spent building the structures themselves.
It’s the latest in a string of rooftop solar deals Octopus has made around Europe, including in Portugal, Ireland and the UK.
This investment, made on behalf of the Sky fund (ORI SCSp) it manages, underscores the global energy tech firm’s commitment to supercharging France’s renewable energy capacity. France has around 20GW of solar capacity, with plans to boost it further.
The deal marks the next step in Octopus’ plans to channel €1bn into France’s clean energy market by 2025 – its largest green generation market on continental Europe.
Octopus now manages 13 onshore wind farms and 14 solar farms as well as rooftop solar projects across the country, with more deals in the pipeline. Earlier this year it also invested in Ocergy, a tech disruptor in the floating offshore wind sector, with operations in France.
This comes as Octopus Energy Group continues to drive innovation in France. Last year it launched a new European tech hub in Paris with its tech platform Kraken to support hundreds of clean energy jobs. Its French energy supplier is targeting 1 million customers by 2026, offering stellar customer service and innovative services to slash energy bills.
Alex Brierley, Co-head of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “This is a win-win for farmers and Octopus Energy. Putting the roofs of farm buildings to work by installing solar panels means farmers get a free structure to store equipment and we can generate more clean power quickly. Solar power is consistently one of the cheapest sources of energy we can build. These innovative small-scale projects distributed around the country shine a light on the future of renewable generation.”
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