Irish investor NTR has entered the French wind market with the acquisition of two projects totalling almost €20m.
The Dublin-headquartered outfit has bought the 8.8MW Bricqueville (pictured) from RES and the 10.2MW Saint-Pierre-de-Juillers from BayWa for a combined over €35m.
The former is in Normandy and is about to enter production with four Vestas V100 turbines, while the latter operational site is in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region comprising five Senvion MM92 units.
Both deals are part of NTR’s second renewables investment fund and mark the company’s expansion beyond the UK and Ireland.
The fund has identified France as a “core market” for further investment.
Chief investment officer Manus O’Donnell said the acquisitions are a “strong demonstration of our intent to be an active participant in the rapidly growing French wind and solar market”.
“We are very pleased to enter the market in partnership with two leading international developers, RES and BayWa and intend to further expand our French presence with both international and domestic developers.”
The Bricqueville deal is the fourth transaction between NTR and RES in recent times.
“RES has already established a strong relationship with NTR in Northern Ireland and we hope that this first project in France is the beginning of a long-term collaboration,” said RES director of finance and acquisitions Sebastien Dubois.