Bluefield makes first step into French market as it continues to eye European expansion

British solar investment fund Bluefield Partners has completed its first transaction in France, closing Project Germain with French solar developer IDSUD Energies SAS.

The company has over £1.03 billion (€1.2 billion) of renewable projects under management in the UK and Europe currently, having expanded into the Netherlands and Italy.

Project Germain is a framework agreement between the company and IDSUD Energies that is aiming to deliver 25MWp of rooftop projects every year for five years in France. Individual assets will have a capacity between 37kWp and 500kWp, be installed on both new and existing roofs and benefit from a 20-year feed-in tariff.

The project forms part of a seed portfolio for Bluefield’s new European Renewable Energy Fund, which is expected to reach financial close in the first half of 2022.

Giovanni Terranova, managing partner of Bluefield said the framework agreement brings the company a “step closer to launching its new pan-European fund”.

“Project Germain represents a significant milestone in Bluefield’s European drive. France is the third EU market where we have successfully closed a solar transaction, France is a difficult to penetrate but quite attractive market for us and we want to grow there. Our ambitions do not stop there, we aim to continue this trend and hope to announce deals in additional geographies soon.”

The first year of the agreement is being financed through a warehouse facility provided by Kommunalkredit Austria AG. Local partner Groupe Enerfi SAS will provide asset management services for the projects.

Bluefield’s operational portfolio now consists of 106 PV plants with a total capacity of 613MWp, while its total pipeline stands at 593MWp of solar and 179MWp of battery projects.

In October, it welcomed Michael Covington as investment director at the company’s investment adviser, given his long and relevant M&A experience in the European wind and solar sectors.