• Valorem
    Valorem
    France

    Energy

    Overview

    Valorem is a leading independent renewable energy development and operating company. It is one of the largest onshore wind developers in France, having developed over 600MW of capacity over the last 10 years.

    The French power market is experiencing a major transition as it looks to reduce its reliance on nuclear generation and to increase generation from renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. The energy transition has been continuously supported by the French governments over the past decade. With in-house capabilities across the entire project cycle and a strong local footprint, Valorem is well positioned to benefit from this shift in energy mix.

    Recent developments

    Valorem had a very good year with revenues from electricity generation ahead of expectations due to favourable wind conditions contributing to a value gain of £47 million. The company’s closed capacity now totals 853MW of wind, solar and hydro projects, a 10% increase from the previous year.

    Valorem completed the sale of a minority stake in part of its French operational portfolio on attractive terms, demonstrating the strong appetite for its projects and raising capital to finance development of future projects. This was supplemented by issuance of euro private placement debt for the first time.

    In France, the market fundamentals for renewable developers remains strong, as evidenced by the increase in recent auction tariff levels due to demand for projects exceeding supply. The construction of Valorem’s new projects in Finland and Greece are progressing according to or ahead of plan. The company has expanded its development pipeline from 5.7GW to 6.6GW, including securing partnerships for co-developments in Poland and Sweden.

    Regulatory and political environment

    Renewables benefit from strong support from the French Government, which has an objective of a 32% renewables contribution by 2032 coupled with a carbonneutral electricity mix by 2040. In line with the need to triple the current installed PV capacity by 2023, in December 2017 the Government announced an increase of future PV auctions from 1.45GW to 2.45GW per annum over the next three years.

    Investment rationale

    This investment diversifies the Company’s portfolio with exposure to a growing renewables business in one of the most attractive European markets, and access to recurring, inflation-linked cash flows underpinned by a robust regulatory regime.

    Led by its experienced management team, Valorem is a best-in-class developer, being the fourth largest French wind developer and the largest independent one. It has a significant pipeline of projects at an advanced stage of development that it expects to convert into operating assets, with further projects at earlier stages to bring through the development process.

    Sustainability

    Valorem has grown its operational renewable base from 157MW at acquisition in 2016 to 529MW (gross of the impact of the farm down of 82MW made in December) with a further 318MW under construction. This includes onshore wind, solar and hydro-electric generation in France, Finland and Greece. The business is also making investments into green hydrogen, battery storage and floating offshore wind and has recently diversified internationally into Poland and Sweden.

    Key facts
    910MW of wind, solar and hydro assets operated, plus a pipeline of over 5GW owned
    390 employees
    503MW of fully developed renewable capacity owned, plus a further 205MW under construction
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