Community financing for floating PV

French renewables developer SERGIES, a subsidiary of Soregies, is targeting €150,000 to part-finance a 3.3MW floating solar scheme in Nouvelle Aquitaine.
The process is being run by Lumo, a French crowdfunding fintech acquired by Societe Generale in 2018.

The project’s capex is €3m and the majority was financed with an EIB loan signed in 2018. Construction is already under way in the commune of Saint- Maurice-la-Clouere.

The company has so far raised nearly €38,000 from 21 investors with 138 days remaining to reach the target. By offering citizens in the surrounding area returns on their investments, Sergies and Lumo hope to make them beneficiaries of renewable projects in their areas, involving them in the energy transition.

The crowdfunding “is less a layer of financing than it is a means for participatory investment”, Lumo president Olivier Houdaille told PFI, but added it was a “durable model with the potential to scale up”.

Floating solar is still in its early stages but there are plenty of available and unused sites, according to Emmanuel Julien, president of Sergies. The company itself is preparing applications for a number of them.