CNIM (EPA:COM) SUNCNIM has raised €60 million to finance the world’s first Fresnel thermodynamic power plant with an energy-storage capacity

Transparency directive : regulatory news

13/10/2016 08:30

PRESS RELEASE

     SUNCNIM has raised EUR60 million to finance the world's first Fresnel
          thermodynamic power plant with an energy-storage capacity.

SUNCNIM, a subsidiary of CNIM, is a joint-venture set up by CNIM in 2015 in
cooperation with Bpifrance's "Société de Projets Industriels" (Industrial
Projects Company). It has achieved 'Financial close' of the project company
eLlo, created for the purpose of building and operating the concentrated solar
energy power plant at Llo in the eastern Pyrenees. This will be the world's
first Fresnel solar thermodynamic power plant with the capacity to store
several hours of energy.

SUNCNIM and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, shareholders in the
project company eLlo, have managed to raise EUR60 million from a banking pool
made up of the Caisse d'Epargne CEPAC, Arranger of the project financing,
Bpifrance Financement, Caisse d'Epargne et de Prévoyance Languedoc-Roussillon,
Crédit Coopératif, Crédit du Nord and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa.

The Llo power plant, which will be built and operated by SUNCNIM, is the
culmination of the bidding process initiated by the Energy Regulation Board
(Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE)) for a contract awarded to CNIM
in 2012.

"The plant will be the world's first in terms of technology. Designed to be
eco-friendly and 100% recyclable, it will employ SUNCNIM technology using
"Fresnel mirrors". This technology is based on the recovery of thermal energy
using mechanically trainable mirrors feeding solar rays to a receiver, the
solar boiler. This thermal energy can be stored and converted into electricity
via a steam generation process", explains Roger Pujol, SUNCNIM's Chairman.

Capable of generating 9 MWe, with a thermal energy storage capacity, i.e. the
electricity consumption of more than 6,000 households, the Llo solar energy
power plant will produce renewable electricity to be exported via the EDF
grid.

According to Stanislas Ancel, a member of the CNIM Management board, "the Llo
power plant marks the success of CNIM's solar thermodynamic research and
investment strategy, the key stages of which were the design and manufacturing
of a prototype at its Seyne-sur-Mer (Var) site in 2010, the validation of its
design by the Agency for the Environment and Optimization of Energy Resources
(ADEME) in 2012 and the creation of the subsidiary SUNCNIM using the SPI
"Industrial Projects Company" fund, financed by Bpifrance's Investing for the
Future Program. This preliminary initiative demonstrates our capability as a
constructor and operator of large-scale technological projects."

"SUNCNIM was the first investment of SPI funds" explains Magali Joessel,
Director of the SPI fund at Bpifrance, created with the aim of "accelerating
the industrialization of a technology with the potential to be a world leader
in the still-emerging market for the production of solar thermal energy. With
its Llo power plant, SUNCNIM gets a significant reference required for the
conquest of foreign markets."

The Llo power plant will be built on public land located in the municipality of
Llo, close to pioneering equipment for concentrating solar energy: the CNRS
solar boiler at Odeillo and the Thémis power plant at Targassonne, whose solar
boiler CNIM designed and built in the 1980s.

A few figures for the Llo power station:

- 9 MWe power output with a thermal energy storage capacity, i.e. the
   electricity consumption of more than 6,000 households
- Built on a 36-hectare site
- 95,200 mirrors fitted to 23,800 collector panels covering a total surface
   area of 153,000 m2
- 9 energy accumulators, providing 4 hours of full-charge storage capacity.

SUNCNIM : www.suncnim.com
A subsidiary of the CNIM Group, SUNCNIM is the first joint enterprise to be set
up using the SPI "Industrial Projects Company" fund, financed by Bpifrance's
Investing for the Future Program. SUNCNIM is developing and will provide
turnkey construction of solar thermodynamic power plants intended for the world
market.

Groupe CNIM : www.cnim.com
CNIM designs and builds turnkey high-tech industrial facilities and provides
expertise, service and operations support in the environment, energy, defense
and industrial sectors. CNIM leads projects and sells equipment worldwide. CNIM
relies on stable family ownership, which underwrites its development. The Group
has 3,000 employees with revenues in 2015 of EUR727.0 million, of which exports
accounted for 61.3%. CNIM is quoted on Euronext Paris.
Twitter : @CNIM_Group

SPI, Industrial Projects Company: www.bpifrance.fr
This fund, managed by Bpifrance as part of its Investing for the Future
Program, has been created with a view to supporting industrial projects with
the most potential for creating jobs in industrial sectors of activity.
It acts as a prudent investor of capital in project companies involved in
industrial initiatives selected on the basis of their potential for growth,
their current position in the industry and their contribution in terms of the
transition to ecological sources of energy. It therefore constitutes one of the
financial points of leverage of the New Industrial France.
For more information, go to:
www.bpifrance.fr - http://investissementsdavenir.bpifrance.fr/ -
Twitter: @bpifrance

SUNCNIM Press Contacts
Agence Gootenberg
Laurence Colin : +33 (0)1 43 59 00 46
laurence.colin@gootenberg.fr
Frédérique Vigezzi : +33 (0)1 43 59 29 84
frederique.vigezzi@gootenberg.fr

Bpifrance
Anne-Sophie de Faucigny
Tel. : +33 (0) 1 41 79 99 10
Mob: 06 46 01 52 86
as.defaucigny@bpifrance.fr

SUNCNIM / PRESS BULLETIN / 13 OCTOBER 2016

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CNIM (EPA:COM) SUNCNIM has raised €60 million to finance the world’s first Fresnel thermodynamic power plant with an energy-storage capacity

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