The Banque des Territoires and BayWa r.e. have joined forces to enable local stakeholders (SEMs, regional funds, local authorities, local companies) to access the financial yields generated by wind farms, thereby incorporating citizens into participatory debt with an innovative governance and liquidity formula.
This partnership will allow local stakeholders in France to become majority shareholders, alongside the Banque des Territoires as a minority shareholder. The French wind farms will be developed and built by BayWa r.e. France SAS, before being sold to local stakeholders and the Banque des Territoires upon commissioning. BayWa r.e. will take care of the operation and management of the wind farms. The partnership is based on a portfolio of projects developed by BayWa r.e., and will initially have a total capacity of 50 MW.
This partnership aims to integrate wind farm residents and citizens through secure participatory financing in the form of simple bonds, with two innovations:
- greater liquidity than usual transactions, with the possibility for bondholders to exit before maturity every year.
- integration of bondholders into the governance of the wind farms, which will make it possible to involve bondholders’ representatives in the project company’s decisions on local issues (choice of local service providers, road maintenance, landscaping, TV reception, compensatory measures, etc.).
For BayWa r.e., this partnership makes it possible to meet the high expectations across the regions in France. “In the course of our development activities, we frequently receive requests from local stakeholders to continue to be active in projects when they are operational, and sometimes simply to access information on the production and operation of the wind farm. As part of our strategy to include the regions, it seemed important to us to be able to respond by facilitating the transfer of our wind farms to these local public stakeholders, and by allowing them to be fully involved in the life of the project. This is why we asked the French Banque des Territoires to assist us in structuring a solution that allows us to invite local stakeholders alongside the Bank of the Territories on a project-by-project basis," says Can Nalbantoğlu, managing director of BayWa r.e. France SAS.
The energy transition and the relationship with citizens are two strategic axes that merge at the Banque des Territoires: this partnership further illustrates this. According to Emmanuel Legrand, Director of the Energy and Environmental Transition department within the Investment department at the Banque des Territoires: “We are proud that BayWa r.e. has naturally turned to the Banque des Territoires as a trusted third party to enable a minority co-investment by the Banque des Territoires alongside majority regional stakeholders. The Banque des Territoires continues to demonstrate its commitment to renewable energy, particularly wind energy, in favour of ensuring our regions are more sustainable. In a wind energy market that is now mature, the Banque des Territoires welcomes this innovative partnership with extra-financial benefits that are particularly important for regions, communities and citizens. We hope that this partnership will pave the way to be replicated many times in future, all while contributing to an inclusive energy transition.”
