Amarenco moves on French territories

AMARENCO, the solar energy business founded by former Bord Gáis boss John Mullins, has started deploying infrastructure in far-flung French territories.

It’s teamed up with local partners in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, and on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

Amarenco, which began life developing a presence in France, is also now involved in projects on Corsica in the Mediterranean.

The projects on the islands involve the development of so-called solar barns. The combined investment in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean territories is expected to be €50m in the “next number of years”, said Amarenco.

In April, Amarenco emerged as the number one buyer in French tariff auctions for solar barns. The company won a total of almost 36MW of capacity either in its own right or in partnership with Total Solar.

It takes Amarenco’s total auction wins in the last year to nearly 80MW in France, where the total constructed value of these projects will be €140m, according to the company.

Solar barn projects almost exclusively built for the agriculture sector and solar developers compete for French auctions every three months.

Mr Mullins said Amarenco is “very pleased” to be expanding its international footprint.

“We are one of the largest developers in Corsica and this is of benefit in expanding into French territories further afield,” he said.

The company has more than 150MW of operating solar projects in France.

It has also been sizing up assets in Italy.