Meridiam has announced that it is acquiring 60% stake in Centrale Electrique de l’Ouest Guyanais (CEOG), a power generating plant storing intermittent renewable energy using hydrogen.

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Image: Meridiam’s stake purchase is part of the company’s efforts to strengthen its portfolio of renewable energy projects. Photo courtesy of MERIDIAM.

The stake in CEOG will be acquired by Meridiam alongside HDF Energy to finance and develop the plant, which will be located in the town of Mana, French Guiana.

Meridiam’s stake purchase is part of the company’s efforts to strengthen its portfolio of renewable energy projects.

Through its massive hydrogen-based renewable energy storage system, the power plant will be able to offer stable electricity day and night to over 10,000 households in French Guiana.

Meridiam said: “This investment is a further illustration of Meridiam’s voluntary approach to meeting the challenge of the energy transition, in the same way as electric mobility, biogas and biomass, or energy efficiency and demand management, sectors in which Meridiam has also invested.”

The plant will be connected to the EDF station in SaintLaurent-du-Maroni. It will generate a fixed daily electrical output of 10MW during the day and 3MW at night over 20 years.

 

Construction on the plant is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2019 and the facility is expected to enter into operations by the autumn of 2020. During the construction phase, CEOG will create around 100 jobs and around 30 permanent, nonrelocatable jobs over the 20 years of operation of the plant.

HDF Energy is a major producer of stable electricity from intermittent energy sources, integrating a 55 MW photovoltaic park with the 140MWh hydrogen-based renewable energy storage capacity.

HDF Energy CEO Damien Havard said: “We are very pleased to be joined by the Meridiam fund. This investment validates the relevance of HDF Energy’s business model and allows us to benefit from the long-term support of a renowned and reputable investor in the energy sector.

“This partnership will speed up the development of the CEOG plant, the first of its kind in the world, and under close international scrutiny. This milestone reinforces HDF Energy’s ambition to become a global player in the energy transition.”

Meridiam is a major company in the development, investment and long-term management of infrastructure projects, managing €6.2bn in assets.