Meridiam invests €62 million in a new wood biomass plant in France

Meridiam has been awarded a contract to build, finance and operate for 20 years a 64 MW wood biomass power plant at the industrial production site of Swiss Krono, a leading wood manufacturer, in Sully-sur-Loire, in the Loiret region in France. The power plant will run exclusively on bark, dust and wood chips from the materials manufactured on the site (parquet, panels, building materials and interior design products). The plant is scheduled to be operational in 2024 and will avoid 35,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year.

This project will help modernize and increase the production capacity of the Swiss Krono plant while reducing its environmental footprint by replacing its current units, which are mainly powered by natural gas.

In France, with this new project, Meridiam currently owns and operates 14 biomethane production and solid biomass energy recovery plants. These projects illustrate our concrete commitment to the ecological transition and contribute to the reduction of air and soil pollution. They contribute concretely to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in particular MDGs 7 (ensure access to reliable, sustainable and modern energy services at an affordable cost) and 9 (build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization that benefits all and encourage innovation).

Through them, we are supporting the development of innovative SMEs and promoting the emergence of a local industry and an exemplary regional sector for the transformation of waste into renewable energy.

The total project investment of €62 million will be provided by Meridiam. The project benefits in addition from an €11 million grant from ADEME as part of its decarbonisation of industrial heat production programme.