Solar energy producer, TSE raises 130 million euros – Le Journal des Entreprises
The Côte d’Azur company TSE (254 employees, nearly €30 million in turnover) has just raised 130 million euros. Eurazeo, via its Eurazeo Transition Infrastructure Fund, Bpifrance, via its Large ETI 2020 fund and its fund dedicated to energy and environmental transition, and a pool of investors from Crédit Agricole, represented in particular by Idia Capital Investissement, Amundi and Sofipaca, participated in this funding round to support TSE’s strong growth in the development of solar photovoltaic and agrivoltaic projects.
An industrial actor
With a portfolio of projects of 1.6 GW, at different stages of progress, TSE is positioned on the entire value chain of solar energy: design, financing, construction, supervision and operational management to transform solar energy into electricity. “We are a rather different player within this sector, specifies Mathieu Debonnet, president of TSE. We have taken a resolutely industrial direction since we are developing our own systems and have chosen to be only in France, we have a very strong territorial dimension. This lifting is a kind of recognition of our strategy, our vision and undoubtedly, because these players like Eurazeo are very enlightened, of an absolute necessity for France to accelerate its energy transition.”
Created in 2012 and based in Sophia Antipolis, the company operates solar power plants, on the ground and on the roof, distributed throughout France. It is also developing agri-photovoltaic shade houses, which combine agricultural cultivation and photovoltaic panels above, the first of which was established in Haute-Saône last year on three hectares. The second must be completed at the end of May in Picardy. Two others will be by September, in Côte-d’Or and Normandy.
Other “original solutions” for farm animals
“This fundraising allows the company to be based on a very long-term vision, continues Mathieu Debonnet. The development of a solar project takes place over 4 to 5 years. We have obtained a very large number of permits, but all this requires huge amount of capital.”
A company that is both industrial and profoundly innovative, TSE has numerous projects for canopies in pipes, “original solutions” according to its manager, carried out in partnership with players in the agricultural world and dedicated both to the preservation of well-being animal, avoiding direct sunlight for cows and sheep, and the “extension of pasture” thanks to a rotating shading system preventing the meadow from burning in the first rays of the sun. These shadehouses will extend over 12 to 15 hectares and should flourish in all breeding regions, from the Center to the East via Aquitaine.
TSE aims to develop 10 GW of solar projects within ten years in France.
