Evergaz and Meridiam raised €51 million in bank loans from a pool consisting of Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, Banque Populaire Grand Ouest, Caisse d’Epargne et de Prévoyance Loire-Centre and Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM). This funding will go towards the construction of new projects and the optimisation of the operational performance of their 9 power stations in operation in France. This innovative funding in the anaerobic digestion sector will benefit the French platform of biogas projects jointly held by the two partners, Evergaz and Meridiam. Awarded to the company in charge of the biogas facilities, it helps extend to all project companies the benefit of more advantageous contract conditions than for the individual financing of each separate company.

It attests to the commitment of Meridiam and Evergaz to helping their partners, in particular in the agricultural world, develop this new activity which has a positive impact on their territories. The platform includes optimisation projects for the Tiper Méthanisation (Deux-Sèvres department), Cap’ter Méthanisation / Sain’ter Méthanisation (Vendée department) and Marnay Energie sites (Cher department), as well as the construction and completion of new projects such as Bioénergie Bressane (BEB, in the Saône-et-Loire department), Aube Sud Energie (Aube department) and Métha Horizon (Marne department). This transaction also helps refinance the debt of facilities already in operation – Biogaz du Pays de Château Gontier (Mayenne department), Sensienergies (Morbihan department), Marnay Energie (Cher department), while financing improvements and extensions on these sites.

This funding will allow Evergaz to continue its strategic development in France, drawing on the expertise gained from the feedback of its anaerobic digestion units, in operation since 2014. Since its creation in 2008, Evergaz has already invested more than €150 million in the biogas sector with its partners.

“Evergaz is delighted with this historic funding in the portfolio of biogas facilities. This new capacity will allow us to optimise the performance of our sites and continue our development, with the firm belief that biogas should be viewed as one of the key components of ecological transition. As a solution combining waste treatment with renewable gas or electricity generation, our sector provides local public and private stakeholders with environmental as well as economic services”, says Alain Planchot, CEO of Evergaz, and Frédéric Flipo, Managing Director of Evergaz.

According to Thierry Déau, CEO of Meridiam: “This financing transaction is a perfect example of how Meridiam can work hand in hand with an industrial player to develop projects in the heart of the territories with our farming partners. Anaerobic digestion is a solution for the future consistent with energy transition and circular economy issues. With this new investment, we reaffirm that we consider anaerobic digestion a sustainable waste management and carbon footprint reduction solution”.

With 15 biogas facilities in France, Germany and Belgium, and a 30 MWe capacity, Evergaz has a daily output equivalent to the energy consumption of 130,000 people, avoiding 70,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Evergaz and Meridiam wish to double production by 2025, with an annual biomethane energy production objective of 125 million Nm3, an installed capacity of 63MWe and the treatment of more than 1 million tonnes of waste per year, which is equivalent to supplying 280,000 people with green energy.

The anaerobic digestion units developed, owned and managed by Evergaz and Meridiam, enable the local production of green, circular and non-intermittent energy, while offering numerous positive externalities (reduction in CO2 emissions, preservation of agriculture, etc.). They also provide a solution for the recovery of organic waste and the production of a natural fertiliser substitutable for chemical fertilisers.