Neoen has closed €164 million in debt to finance a 203 MWp portfolio of six solar parks and one wind farm in France. The lenders — Credit Agricole Transitions and Energies, Caisse d’Epargne CEPAC, and Caisse d’Epargne Ile-de-France — are backing construction, not operating assets.

The signal is clear: French banks remain comfortable underwriting construction risk for scaled, diversified portfolios.

This is not tax equity. It is senior debt funding a multi-asset buildout in Neoen’s home market. At roughly 200 MW, the portfolio is large enough to justify syndication but small enough to remain execution-manageable. Diversification across six PV sites and one wind asset reduces single-site exposure while preserving capital efficiency.

Commercially, this reinforces two things. First, local lenders are still writing tickets for shovel-ready renewables despite higher base rates. Second, sponsors with operating track records — Neoen has 8.5 GW globally and nearly 1.5 GW of solar in France — retain structural advantages in securing construction financing.

In a tighter capital environment, balance sheet credibility and domestic banking relationships are doing the heavy lifting. For developers without both, construction debt is getting harder, slower, and more expensive.

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