Neoen
Founded in 2008, Neoen opened its first power plant in France in 2009 and reached its break even point in 2011. In 2014, the company began its international development with the opening of three solar plants in Portugal: Seixal, Coruche and Cabrela. Cestas, the most powerful solar plant in Europe with 300 MWp, was opened in south-west France in 2015. In 2016 Neoen commissioned the largest solar park in Central America (101 MWc). The company's total capacity in operation and under construction exceeded 1 GW. The following year (2017), Neoen opened the world's largest storage plant in Hornsdale, Australia (100 MW/120 MWh) and announced its intention to triple its business by 2020. The company went public on 16 October 2018, entering Euronext compartment A, with the support of its historical shareholders. It became the youngest French company in its field to surpass a billion euros in capitalisation. The same year, its total capacity in operation and under construction attained 2 GW. In 2019, Neoen sold its only biomass unit. The company's international expansion continued with an agreement to provide wind power for Google in Finland and the financing of a 375-MWc solar park in Mexico providing energy at US$18.93 per MWh. Neoen's capacity in operation attained 1 GW in Australia alone. In 2020, building work began on the Yllikkälä Power Reserve in Finland (30 MW/30 MWh) and the Victorian Big Battery in Australia (300 MW/450 MWh). Work also began on Western Downs (460 MWp), Australia's and Neoen's largest solar park. In June 2020, the company entered the SBF120, MSCI France Small Cap Index and S&P Global Clean Energy index funds. In April 2021 Neoen increased its capital by €600M. The company has 4.1 GW in operation and under construction in 15 countries and is aiming for 10 GW by 2025. Neoen operates in the solar power, onshore wind farm and battery storage markets. At the end of 2020, turnover was at €299M, comprising 48% solar power, 41% wind power and 11% storage. As at December 2020, Neoen is present in 15 countries across four continents. Australia accounts for 47% of capacity in operation and under construction, America 31% and Europe/Africa 22%. In June 2021, capacity in operation and under construction stood at 4.8 GW. Neoen's main solar energy plants are in Argentina, Australia, France,  Jamaica, Mexico, Mozambique, El Salvador, Portugal and Zambia. In France, Neoen built and operates Cestas solar farm, in the Gironde department. With 980,000 solar panels, the 260-hectare park was the largest solar farm in Europe when it opened on 1 December 2015. At 300 MWp it remains the largest in France. With annual production of 350 GWh, it can cover household consumption for the 240,000 inhabitants of Bordeaux (excluding heating). Neoen has been operating Providencia Solar, (101 MWp) in El Salvador, the biggest solar power plant in Central America at that time, since 2016. In 2017, the 140 MWp Capella Solar project reinforced presence in El Salvador. Neoen also set up business in Argentina and plans to build two 100 MWp solar farms near San Antonio de los Cobres in the province of Salta. In Mexico the company is developing and will be operating the 800-hectare El Llano farm in central Mexico (375 MWp). In 2020, Neoen announced the construction of Western Downs Green Power Hub (460 MWp), Australia's largest solar park. Spanning the equivalent of 2100 football pitches, the new farm began full-scale commercial operations on 29 December 2021. It could generate up to 1080 GWh per annum. As at end of June 2021, there are 58 Neoen solar power plants in operation or under construction around the world, for a total capacity of nearly 2.7 GWp. Wind power
Neoen wind power operations are focused on four countries with plenty of resources: Australia, France, Finland and Ireland. The 33 plants in operation or under construction together total 1.5 GW (as at 30 June 2021). In 2018, construction began on Australia's Bulgana Green Power Hub.
On 3 July 2020, Neoen announced the commissioning of Hedet wind farm in Finland. The 81-MW farm is to supply Google with green electricity for its data centre in Hamina. In 2021, Neoen began construction on the 404-MW Mutkalampi wind farm in Finland and the 157-MW Kaban Green Power Hub in Australia. Energy Storage
To overcome the intermittency of renewable power sources, Neoen also develops lithium-ion batteries to store electricity. With costs having been divided by seven in the last nine years, Neoen has developed storage on a large scale, with seven plants totalling a capacity of 526 MW/ 716.9 MWh. In 2017, Neoen installed the world's largest lithium-ion battery (initially 100 MW/ 129MWh, extended to 150 MW/ 193.5 MWh in 2020) built by American company Tesla, at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in the Mid North region of South Australia to provide grid-support services. In another collaboration with Tesla, Neoen has also announced the future construction of the Victorian Big Battery in Melbourne, which at 300 MW/ 450 MWh is set to be one of the world's most powerful to date. In 2020, Neoen began operating a large storage unit in Finland. The 30MW/30MWh Yllikkälä Power Reserve One is the first large-capacity battery to be connected to the Finnish grid. In 2021, Neoen built Albireo Power Reserve, comprising two 11 MW/8 MWh batteries for the Capella (140 Mwp) and Providencia (101 Mwp) solar plants. Neoen will attain a total capacity of 14 MW in El Salvador, with storage of 10 MWh, making it Central America's number one battery storage operator. The company is an S.A. Corporation, whose main shareholder is Jacques Veyrat (former chairman of Louis Dreyfus) via his company Impala. Xavier Barbaro is Neoen's chairman and founder. Neoen is listed in Compartment A of Euronext’s regulated market in Paris. Directors:
Xavier Barbaro – CEO and founder. Romain Desrousseaux – Deputy CEO since 2013. Norbert Thouvenot – Chief operating officer since 2021. Olga Kharitonova – General counsel since 2018. Louis Matthieu Perrin – Financial Director since 2019.
Activities
It develops, finances, builds and operates solar power plants, wind farms and energy storage solutions. On 30 June 2021, the company's total capacity stood at 4.8 GW, made up of 56% solar, 33% wind and 11% battery storage. Neoen has celebrated several landmark events in the renewable energy field, namely the construction of Cestas (near Bordeaux, France), at the time the largest solar plant in Europe; the construction of Hornsdale Power Reserve in Australia in 2017, then the world's largest lithium-ion battery storage unit; and Providencia Solar, the largest solar plant in Central America.