French renewables company Voltalia has acquired a majority stake in a 60MW solar PV plant in the southern Netherlands.
The Mosselbanken project is Voltalia’s first entry into the Dutch market as a power producer, having previously operated as a service provider across the lifecycle of solar projects, from development through construction and operations and maintenance (O&M).
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The project is located in the industrial port of Terneuzen in the most southwesterly Dutch province, Zeeland. It was originally developed by Dutch developer Gutami, and Voltalia said that the site has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with an undisclosed offtaker.
The Dutch solar and PPA markets have been experiencing some uncertainty in the last year. At the end of 2022 the government introduced a revenue cap below that which was mandated for renewable energy companies by the EU. This, according to experts speaking to PV Tech Premium at the time, introduced uncertainties for the future of investment and profitability for the PPA market, due in part to the complexities of working out the final benefactor of profits from power once it has been sold and resold.
In September, PV manufacturing giant JA Solar partnered with Dutch developer Ecorus to build the 103MW Fledderbosch solar PV project in the northeast of the country.
As far as Voltalia is concerned, 2023 has been a middling year for profits and development. In its Q3 financial results, the company reported a turnover of €126.2 million (US$133.3 million), identical to the previous quarter. The flat trajectory was largely due to a significant blackout in Brazil, where it has a lot of capacity. Despite this, in its earnings call CEO Sébastien Clerc reaffirmed its “2023 EBITDA target of around €275 million, representing a doubling compared with 2022.”