TotalEnergies buys French agrivoltaics startup Ombrea

September 29, 2023
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Agrivoltaics holds mutual benefits for both farmers and energy developers. Image: Enel Green Power.

French oil giant TotalEnergies has acquired Ombrea, an agrivoltaics developer, for an undisclosed sum.

TotalEnergies said that it would incorporate over 40 of Ombrea’s staff into the new agrivoltaics division, including founders Christian Davico and Julie Davico-Pahin, at Ombrea’s existing Aix-en-Provence site. It also said that the acquisition would enable it to “accelerate the development of its portfolio of 1.5 GW of agrivoltaics projects”.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

Since 2016, Ombrea has built ten agriPV sites, primarily featuring crop production. Studies have shown that the protection and shade from solar panels can improve the growth and yield of some plants, as well as widen the scope of potentially farmable areas that may otherwise have been too exposed to heat or wind. Plants in turn can cool panels from beneath, improving their efficiency.

The solar industry is paying increasing attention to agrivoltaics and beginning to take advantage of the breadth of deployment options that the practice offers. PV Tech Premium has recently published features on the crossroads between both community solar and rooftop solar and agrivoltaics.

Europe is one of the primary regions where agrivoltaics technology has gained traction, and a July report from the Progress in Photovoltaics journal found that the continent has the potential to deploy 51TW worth of agrivoltaics if it were to harness every opportunity to do so. Despite this, the Dutch government effectively moved to ban agriPV deployments in July.

France itself – the home nation of both TotalEnergies and Ombrea – has been looking to agrivoltaics as a way around its land availability bottleneck that has helped back its PV deployments in recent years. More on this topic can be found here. This week the most recent energy roadmap tender saw French developer Neoen secure two 30MW agriPV projects in France.

“This move will allow us to combine our expertise and know-how to accelerate the deployment of solutions that enable the agricultural sector to increase its income by producing energy, while sustaining its activities and reducing its carbon footprint,” said Vincent Stoquart, senior vice president, renewables at TotalEnergies.

Ombrea founders Christian Davico and Julie Davico-Pahin added: “We are delighted to be joining TotalEnergies, where Ombrea will help to scale up the company’s ambitious vision for the regions. We look forward to seeing the accelerated deployment of our smart solutions to promote high-performance, forward-looking agriculture.”

In 2021, Ombrea received technical and financial support from Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, as one of four projects selected by the company.

25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
Norwegian renewable energy firm Scatec has signed lease agreements for 64MW of solar PV and 10MWh of energy storage capacity in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
Masdar and Turkey have entered the final stage of US$1 billion agreement to develop the 1.1GW plant in Bor, Niğde Province, central Turkey.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.
October 16, 2025
Jakson Green and Blueleaf Energy have reached financial close for the 840MWp Bikaner solar projects in Rajasthan, western India. 

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK