Fonroche Énergie is a French company, founded in 2008 by Yann Maus. Its headquarters are in Roquefort, Lot-et-Garonne, in the French department of

Lot-et-Garonne Lot-et-Garonne (, oc, Òlt e Garona) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

modules was inaugurated. The same year, Fonroche Investments, an investment subsidiary dedicated to the production of solar energy, supported its first fund-raising projects. In 2010, the French investment company Eurazeo become partner of Fonroche capital, investing €50 million over two years. A second production line was launched in Roquefort, allowing the company to increase its production capacity to 90 MWp per year. 2011 was a year of transition for Fonroche. In fact, the group extended its activities to an international scale by opening several subsidiaries in Europe (Switzerland, Spain and Ukraine), in Africa (Benin), in Asia (notably India), in the United States and in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico). Fonroche has diversified its activities, extending them to new sources of renewable energy:

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

and

geothermal heat Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ o ...

. The same year, Fonroche launched a new range of solar products dedicated to public lighting (mostly solar street lamps). In 2012, Fonroche launched a program called "New energy to power the future". The company concluded with the Kazakh company Zhambyl Hydro Energo the future installation of a multi-technology 24 MWp photovoltaic power plant. In the same year, Fonroche established a joint-venture with the Indian company PR Clean Energy and collaborated with Mahindra Group on a 5 MWp photovoltaic-based power plant in Bikaner (Rajasthan).

Fonroche's ownership

* Yann Maus: 52% *

Eurazeo Eurazeo is a French investment company formed by the merger of Azeo and Eurafrance in April 2001. The company is headquartered in Paris. Eurazeo is a leading global investment group, with a diversified portfolio of €25.6 billion in assets und ...

: 39% * Others: 9%

Headquarters

Fonroche Énergie follows the ecological philosophy and the use of renewable energy it advocates. The whole of its major French industrial site is running on positive energy through the use of many innovative products: LED lighting, autonomous solar lights for the parking lots, heat recovery, photovoltaic roof; the entire installation produces 2.1 MWc. The solar panel production factory is also ISO-certified (ISO 14001 and ISO 9001) and has a production capacity of 90 Mwp. This ranks Fonroche as one of the French leaders of solar panel manufacturing.

Activities

The 30th largest company in the French region of Aquitaine, Fonroche has several activities in the field of renewable energy: photovoltaics, off-grid lighting, biogas, geothermal heat.

Photovoltaics

Since its foundation in 2009, Fonroche Énergie has worked in the production of

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

energy. The company ensures the success of every photovoltaic project, in all its phases: the study, the implementation of the system (power plants, panels, etc.), and its maintenance.

Off-grid lighting

In 2012, Fonroche Énergie, through its subsidiary Fonroche Environnement Urbain, revealed to the market a range of

passive solar lighting Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, skylights, other openings, and reflective surfaces so that sunlight (direct or indirect) can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is given to daylighting while designing a bui ...

, called Illum'in. It is an intelligent photovoltaic candelabra, manufactured in France. It minimizes the impact of public lighting on the environment and enables municipalities to save money, because its requires less maintenance than a conventional, electric, installation. Fonroche has also developed within the same range, solar candelabras dedicated to tropical countries as well as street furniture (range Urb'in) with relocatable anchors.

Biogas

Fonroche is not just specialised in photovoltaics. The company has diversified its activities towards other renewable energy sources such as

. It began with this activity in early 2012, signing a partnership agreement with a Danish company specialized in waste-to-energy.

Geothermal heat

Fonroche Géothermie is positioned on the market of high-temperature

geothermal heating Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ o ...

. The company started this activity in 2012, projecting to invest about €400 million over the next 10 years. Since this decision, the company has obtained exploration licenses for two high-temperature geothermal sites. The French government has granted the first license in early 2013 for a site near Pau (department of Pyrénées-Atlantique, region of Aquitaine); in June 2013, Fonroche also received a second geothermal exploration license, called “permis de Strasbourg”. As a sideproject, Fonroche is exploring possibilities to mine Lithium from the geothermal brines.

ISOCEL project

Fonroche Énergie takes part in the ISOCEL research project,Presentation of the "ISOCEL Project"
on plateforme-canoe.com (consulted 15 November 2013) coordinated by the French chemical company Arkema and by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency). This project aims to promote the use of polymer technology for protection and encapsulation of photovoltaic cells. Fourteen partners are involved in it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonroche Energie 2008 establishments in France Renewable energy companies of France French brands