GROUPE GRIMAUD IS PLANNING ELECTRICITY SELF-CONSUMPTION!

After having equipped the roof of its headquarters with photovoltaic panels more than 10 years ago, the Groupe Grimaud is strengthening its green energy production with 3 new photovoltaic power plant projects for self-consumption.

Over a total surface of more than 13,000 m2 on 3 sites of its Grimaud Frères and Hypharm companies the group is planning to install its new green power generation plants.
The coverage rate (the share of electricity produced in relation to the total electricity consumed on the sites) will be close to 25%. This power plant project meets 2 main objectives:
– Reducing the carbon footprint: installing the plants will save 600 tonnes of CO2 over 30 years (lifetime of the plant).
– Improving the competitiveness of the activities: about 3% of the companies’ costs is spent on electricity. The acquisition price of a MWh (megawatt hour) has increased from €63 in 2010 to €93, i.e. inflation of 48%. All forecasts point to this inflation continuing for the next 20 years.
“Our land assets enable us to plan these projects with no impact on our business or to have to make a land investment”, Laurent Rineau, Director of General Services of the Groupe Grimaud explained.

The principle chosen by the group is rental-sale. The rental contract is for 12 years and then the installation becomes the company’s property in the 13th year.
“The saving made on the purchase of electricity covers the rents paid for the 3 power plants, whose total cost is 1.2 million euros. Not only does the operation not impact our investments, it also provides us with a net gain of 3.5 million euros over 30 years!”, Laurent Rineau added.

The project is currently undergoing a prior validation phase by the authorities (compliance with town planning regulations and impact assessment on fauna and flora). These processes, usually lengthy, could delay the project’s production start date until late 2022.
“If this first operation proves successful, we may be able to plan more plants. We also hope, in the near future, that new energy-storage technologies will enable us to dramatically increase our share of self-consumption, and perhaps allow us to move towards complete energy independence!”, Laurent Rineau concluded.