EDF Energies Nouvelles has announced that it has finalized an agreement for the financing of a range of solar power plants in France. The French renewable energy company will finance these plants using the €500 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) awarded through an MOU in December 2009, reports Dow Jones.
EIB will finance 50% of planned projects in both France and Italy through 2012, while commercial banks will support each project with the other 50% of project finance required.
EDF Energies Nouvelles has signed the framework agreement for the French part of the program with five banks. The company will be exclusively using First Solar’s CdTe thin-film modules for the €1 billion of projects throughout Europe over the next two years.
The Gabardan project, the ground-based solar farm in France, will consist of three 12MWp tranches in Landes.