French Valorem Secures €15.7m Debt for Poucharramet, Barbarade Solar Projects

• Valorem clinches €15.7 m loan for 14.4-MW agrivoltaic and 3.3-MW landfill-to-solar projects in France, boosting rural clean-energy capacity and CO₂ savings.

French independent power producer Valorem has obtained a €15.7 million debt package from regional lender Caisse d’Epargne Aquitaine Poitou-Charentes to finance two new photovoltaic parks with a combined capacity of 17.3 MW.

The larger of the pair is the 14.4-MW Poucharramet project in Haute-Garonne, Occitanie. Designed as an agrivoltaic installation, its elevated bifacial panels will allow farmers to continue cultivating the underlying land, blending clean-energy production with traditional agriculture. The second scheme—the 3.3-MW Barbarade array in Billom, Puy-de-Dôme—will transform a former landfill site into a revenue-generating renewable asset, extending the life of land that is otherwise difficult to repurpose.

Valorem will draw €13.8 million in senior debt and an additional €3.2 million in ancillary credit facilities to cover construction, grid connection and early-stage operating costs. Ground-breaking on both sites is slated for September 2025, with commercial operations targeted for spring 2026.

Once online, the two parks are expected to supply roughly 24.2 GWh of electricity per year—enough to power about 5,680 French homes and avoid almost 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. The dual focus on agrivoltaics and brownfield rehabilitation illustrates Valorem’s strategy of pairing environmental stewardship with reliable cash flows backed by France’s supportive feed-in-tariff regime.

The financing highlights the willingness of cooperative banks to bankroll mid-scale solar projects that align with national plans to reach 100 GW of installed PV by 2050. For Valorem—already operating more than 1.7 GW of renewables and managing a multi-gigawatt pipeline—the deal inches the company closer to its goal of adding 500 MW of new solar capacity within three years while reinforcing France’s broader push for a diversified, low-carbon electricity mix.