Isra-Mart srl : Solaire Direct raises €80m to help deliver French solar revolution

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Isra-Mart SRL news:

Solaire Direct SA has reportedly raised €80m (£69.55m) in fresh financing to help it move forward with plans for three solar farms in the southern France.

According to Bloomberg reports, the Paris-based company has secured loans worth €64m from three French banks and raised a further €16m in equity finance to help fund the expansion plans.

Managing director Thierry Lepercq told the news agency that the funding would allow the company to move forward with plans for three solar parks near Grenoble with a combined capacity of 20MW.

The company said it now expects to complete work on the 8.6MW and 5.2MW solar parks at Esparron as early as February next year. A 6.2MW project at Saint-Hilaire du Rosier is expected to come online soon after.

The news came as the firm also announced last week that it has completed two new solar farms at Les Mees with a combined capacity of 24MW through its Solaire Durance joint venture with state-owned bank Caisse de Depots et Consignations.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Lepercq said that plans to build two new solar panel manufacturing plants in France to operate alongside the company’s existing production facility in South Africa had been put on hold until the French government reaches a decision on whether to reduce the incentives currently available to solar developers.

In related news, US solar panel components specialist SolarEdge Technologies announced last week that it raised $25m (£15.81m) in funding through a financing round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The company, which specialises in inverters and optimisation technologies that promise to boost outputs from solar panels by up to 25 per cent, said that it would use the fresh funding to increase its production capacity.

Meanwhile, Spanish solar equipment manufacturer Siliken SA announced late last week that it is to open a new manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ontario as it seeks to take advantage of the province's generous solar incentives.

The company said the new plant will employ 175 people and have the capacity to produce 50MW of new panels each year.