CGN forges French links to reach new markets

China General Nuclear Power Group has outlined plans to become the largest solar energy distributor in France and extend its partnership with French companies in third-party markets.

In line with China's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to boost connectivity and trade between China and Europe, CGN has accelerated efforts in recent years to link up with French partners and explore foreign renewable energy markets.

This year, the Chinese state-owned enterprise has said it will work with French companies to develop projects in Europe and Africa.

The company says it will enter the French solar power sector through its subsidiary, CGN Europe Energy, and join hands with French company Inovia Concept Development to build solar generators in the next few years.

Inovia will handle construction and maintenance of the solar facilities, according to Johnny Schlomacher, the company's chief executive. He says the Chinese SOE secured the project despite competition from a German rival.

"The cooperation has great significance to Chinese enterprises and is a milestone for the China-France renewable energy partnership," says Lu Wei, general manager of CGN Europe Energy. "It will enable us to build power stations with an installed capacity of 500 megawatts of solar energy and create as many as 3,000 direct and indirect jobs in France."

Lu says in the past 30 years, his company has established strong ties with French energy companies, especially in nuclear power.

"Our goal is to make CGN a world-class energy group by developing both renewable energy and nuclear power, and proactively participating in international competition."

CGN won the bid for the Fujin Onshore Wind Power Project in France in last February and completed an equity transfer deal with Eolfi, a local new-energy company.

The company is a pioneer and a good example of Chinese state-owned enterprises competing in the French market, Lu says. It has already cooperated with French companies to develop in third-party markets, such as in Africa and the United Kingdom.

In December, CGN signed an agreement in Paris on a project to build a wind farm in the south of Namibia with InnoVent, a subsidiary of France's InnoSun, and French electricity company EDF. The project would be built in southwestern Luderitz, one of the windiest places in the world.

According to the agreement, this year, the wind farm's capacity is to be gradually increased from 150 mW to 500 mW.

This partnership between the three companies will also develop solar projects in Africa, Lu says. "Africa is one of CGN's overseas development areas, and French enterprises are suitable partners."

Jacqueline Bassa-Mazzoni, the French ambassador in Namibia, says: "This is a good example for Chinese and French companies looking to explore third-party markets."

So far CGN's installed capacity has exceeded 200 megawatts in the United Kingdom and France. During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United Kingdom in October 2015, China and France extended their partnership to build three new power stations in the UK, including two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

tuoyannan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/29/2016 page16)