Rhodia launches a photovoltaic solar power facility project with SolaireDirect and OFI Asset Management

Rhodia has announced plans to install 12,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels on the Rhodia Belle-Etoile site in Saint-Fons and Feyzin (in the Rhône département). This large-scale initiative will be carried out in partnership with Solairedirect, one of the leading French producers of photovoltaic electricity, and the OFI Asset Management firm within the framework of its private asset management activities. This project forms an integral part of the Group’s sustainable and responsible growth strategy.

Solar energy is a universally available natural resource that is inexhaustible, creates no pollution and offers an excellent energy balance. Boasting a 2 megawatt-peak capacity, the solar power generating facility will produce 2 million kilowatt-hours per year. This corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of a town of 2,000 inhabitants, and will avoid releasing 1,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.

This facility will be one of France’s largest solar power projects installed on the roof of an industrial building. Thanks to this initiative, Rhodia’s warehouses will be fitted with new roofs with solar panels incorporated in them. Work is scheduled to start in December 2010 and the facility should be up and running by the end of 2011.

Philippe Rosier, President of Rhodia Energy Services, said: "We are particularly happy to enter into this innovative partnership with Solairedirect that will allow Rhodia to reduce its carbon footprint still further."

For Thierry Lepercq, Chairman of Solairedirect: “The Belle-Etoile site is one of our largest photovoltaic projects installed on the roofs of factory buildings. It represents an important step that will help us achieve our target of installing photovoltaic panels with a generating capacity of more than 80 megawatts-peak between now and the end of 2011.”

Gérard Bourret, General Manager of OFI AM said: "We are delighted, thanks to the work completed together by our subsidiary OFI Patrimoine and the Aix Options firm, to be involved in the further development of solar power in France."