Les Mees Press Release

8/3/2019 Les Mees Press Release

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Press release

Work starts on the Les Mées solar farm (31 MWp),a sustainable project from Eco Delta built by Siemens

LES MÉES (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), January 21, 2010 – This morningRaymond Philippe, the Mayor of Les Mées, Pierre N’Gahane, the Prefect of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, and Mickaël Doré, the Sub-Prefect, officially opened the construction sitefor one of the largest photovoltaic power plants in France. This plant, on the plateau of La Colledes Mées, is being built at the initiative of Eco Delta, an independent developer and operator of solar and wind farms, with backing from the Sumitomo Corporation.

The first of six parks at the Les Mées solar farm will be brought into service next May. The farmwill generate 31 MWp and will supply electricity to 12,000 homes in the region.

As with all of Eco Delta’s projects, this power plant was designed and implemented withsustainability in mind. In spring, the 66-hectare site will be sown with plants specially selected

to encourage bees and to support eco-agriculture. There are already plans to return the land toagricultural use at the end of its lifecycle, and to recycle the solar panels.

Siemens has been entrusted with implementing this ambitious project based on a turnkeycontract and a performance contract. The project will be carried out by the Grenoble-based“Solar Project” teams from the Energy Sector at Siemens France, the French subsidiary of thegroup which is a global leader in eco-compatible solutions,

The investment of 110 million euros has been financed by:

− a capital contribution jointly subscribed by Delta Solar, the subsidiary of the Eco Deltagroup specializing in photovoltaic electricity, which remains the major shareholder, and bythe Sumitomo Corporation,

− and a syndicated bank loan arranged by BNP-Paribas.

Over a full year, the Les Mées power plant aims to achieve sales of 14.5 million euros.



“As the Mayor of Les Mées, I am delighted by the launch of the site for the photovoltaic power plant on the plateau at La Colle des Mées and I congratulate the directors of Eco Delta for their perseverance in making this project a reality. I would like to thank the Prefect for issuing thebuilding permits. This project is close to our hearts as it is located on a plateau which lendsitself to this type of installation. There is little impact on the environment, agriculture is not affected and disruption to the public is minimal. Nonetheless, thanks to the considerable

volumes of renewable energy it will generate, it will enable Les Mées to contribute to theefforts of the department and the country in the field of sustainable development. I very muchhope the 100 MWp from solar projects on this plateau will soon come on stream. It’s a shamethat the recent abolition of the local business tax will deprive the community of some of thetax revenue we were anticipating from this new business,” explains Raymond Philippe.

“Today, at the outstanding location of the plateau at La Colle des Mées, we are proud to launchthe site of one of the largest solar farms in France. With the cooperation of our partner Sumitomo Corporation and our service provider Siemens, we will contribute to diversifyingenergy in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region. We would like to thank the Mayor of Les Méesand all those who live in the area for their help and support,” adds Ronald Knoche, CEO of EcoDelta.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that nature is fully respected, and to offer a service

which respects the environment. At the site, soil preparation has been designed using themulching method, which will allow the earth to become more fertile in the future. Our quality plan incorporates all environmental standards and we will bind our suppliers and service providers to our aims in this regard. During operation, we will favor environmentally-friendly technologies, processes, materials and products. When the power plant is eventually decommissioned it will be completely disassembled so that the land can be returned to itsoriginal condition, or in fact to a better condition, as it will have been maintained andfertilized,” concludes Olivier Gueydan, Head of the Energy Sector at Siemens in France.

ABOUT ECO DELTA

An independent developer and operator of sites to produce electricity from wind and solar energysources, Eco Delta currently holds building permits to produce in excess of 200 MW in Southern andCentral France.

Since it was founded in 2002, Eco Delta has, starting off from a first patent filed by its R&D teams,successfully built up specific know-how on energy infrastructures. Eco Delta wants to continue setting uppartnerships with local authorities and landowners, offering them the opportunity to actively contributeto the national plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to the installation of solar or wind farms.

Eco Delta is benefitting from the industrial and capital backing of the Caisse des Dépôts, which holds 10% of its capital, as well as support from ANVAR. Eco Delta’s teams, who are experts from the world of energy and the environment, cover all aspects of projects: development, coordination, financing,

principal assistance and operations.On January 12, 2011, Ronald Knoche, Eco Delta’s CEO, responded to the government’s decision tointroduce a new regulatory framework for photovoltaics in an open letter to the Prime Minster publishedin Le Monde. In his letter he puts forward 5 strong measures aimed at ensuring the sector emerges fromthe crisis stronger than ever.

CONTACTSEco Delta CalyptusRonald Knoche Marie-Anne Garigue

Chief Executive Officer Press Office

Tel : + 33 (0) 4 42 01 65 80 Tel : + 33 (0) 1 53 65 68 63

[email protected] [email protected]



Press c ontacts:

Siemens France

Communication Energy

Christophe MéloTel. 01 49 22 43 11 / 06 09 11 39 [email protected]

About Siemens France

Siemens, Europe’s leading high-tech company, has been established in France for 160 years andprioritizes innovation in the fields of industry, energy and healthcare. Through its 8,000-strong workforce, 7production facilities, numerous partnerships with universities and higher education institutions and

competitive clusters, Siemens France plays an active part in economic development in France andabroad. Siemens France has 9 R&D centers, 6 of which are centers of expertise working for the companythroughout the world in all high tech sectors, such as automatic transportation systems, metallurgy, power transmission and distribution, software package design and production, fire detection and mechatronics.Siemens France therefore generates over a third of its revenue from exports. In fiscal 2010, the Siemensgroup in France posted new orders of EUR 2.5 billion (as at September 30, 2010).

The Siemens Energy Sector is the world’s leading supplier of a complete spectrum of products, servicesand solutions for the generation, transmission and distribution of power, and for the extraction, conversionand transportation of oil and gas. In fiscal 2010 (ended September 30), the Energy Sector had revenues of approximately EUR 25.5 billion and received new orders totaling more than EUR 30.1 billion and posted aprofit of more than EUR 3.6 billion. On September 30, 2010, the Energy Sector had a workforce of morethan 88,000.

Further information is available at: www.siemens.com/energy.

http://www.siemens.com/energy

http://www.siemens.com/energy

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