Technique Solaire

Self and Company Introduction

I am working as a Partner and Managing Director at Technique Solaire, India since 2014. I started my entrepreneurial journey with Technique Solaire right after my Masters from EDHEC Business School, Lille France in 2013 as an intern and started the Indian business in 2014. Prior to Solar Technology, I was working in the IT industry.

Technique Solaire, India is a subsidiary of French company, Technique Solaire (JLT Invest Group), working in the field of renewable energy as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) since 2008. The group was founded by three French citizens, Julien Fleury, Lionel Themine & Thomas De Moussac and has a turnover of over € 114 Million & more than 140 employees as of December 2021. Bpifrance and Credit Agricole Regional Investment are minority shareholders at group level.

Technique Solaire is active in Solar & Biogas sector in France, India, French Caribbean islands, Netherlands and Spain with an operational portfolio of over 200MW and a pipeline of over 500MW in various stages of development. At group level, the target is to have an operational portfolio of 1GW by the end of 2024 out of which India level target is 300-400MW.

In India, the company started its operations in 2014. At present, the company has three operational solar ground projects in India supplying electricity to state electricity/utility companies (one each in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh). The company has recently started in Rooftop solar segment also with one operational plant in Goa and one in Coimbatore. The total India portfolio is approx... 70MW.

Technique Solaire India was awarded the Best SME of the year award in the prestigious Indo French Awards held by IFCCI in 2018 and was also awarded Best Franco-Local partnership at the annual CCI France International awards held in Paris in 2019.

What are the business and investment opportunities you see between India and France, specific to your industry?

India & France have a strong long standing relation at County level across all sectors but more prominently seen in the Renewable Energy sector. This can be understood from the fact that India & France were the founding members of the International Solar Alliance in 2015. India and France were again re-elected as President and Co-President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the fifth general assembly of the body held in October 2022.

Major French renewable companies are active in the renewable energy sector in India since years now and are contributing considerably to the India’s ambitious targets. Even at Institutional level, France & India have signed multiple MoUs to create a joint working group, which will identify areas of cooperation in renewable energy technology, systems & subsystems, and coordinate and monitor relevant activities.

How can businesses tap the huge potential that exists between the two countries for developing business ties and for creating more jobs?

India and France have solidified their relationship strategically over a significant period. The strategic partnership spreads across smart cities, railways, tourism, food processing, renewable energy, defence, space and civil nuclear cooperation which opens the door to significant amount of job creation. France is 11^th largest investor in India & the Bilateral trade between the countries has crossed $12Bn in 2021-22. The scope of increasing this engagement is huge and we can see more & more French companies investing in India. All this in turn adds to job creation.

Any comments on post-COVID business ecosystem in India, specific to your industry?

COVID has made businesses more adapt to technology and digitalisation which would otherwise have happened over a significantly larger period of time. Electricity generation was one of the essential services during the COVID period and hence we operated our solar plants without any downtime throughout the lockdown. We had zero shutdown days during COVID related lockdowns and it gave us a good re-check on efficiently managing the operation & maintenance of our plants and maintaining proper spares to avoid/reduce downtime in such an environment.

How has IFCCI added value to your company in India? Would you recommend other companies to join as a member?

IFCCI has been very instrumental in adding value to India-France relationship. As we are ultimately a French company, it was an obvious choice to become a member of IFCCI since we started in India in 2015. We had taken help from IFCCI to understand the Indian market during the initial years & IFCCI platform brings together Indo-French network from time to time which helps us to learn/adapt from each other. The sectoral committees and business meets also helps in giving a stronger Indo-French voice/opinion to the local governments and departments.