The Denis Matériaux Group, Crédit Agricole d'Ille-et-Vilaine and Nexhos Energies sign the installation of a solar self-consumption project

This two-year project worth 9 million euros will allow the Denis Group in the long term to benefit from visibility on the cost of its energy and to produce up to 75% of its consumption. current electricity.

A vast carbon-free energy project that will produce more than 4000 MWh per year

The Denis Group has entrusted the Nexhos Group with the installation of a solar self-consumption project. It consists of the design, installation and operation of 14 self-consumption photovoltaic power plants, the equipment of 13 sites hosted by Denis Matériaux, energy renovation work and roof rehabilitation.

This installation will provide the Denis group with long-term visibility on the price of its electricity bill while continuing to decarbonize its activities. With this project, the Denis Group, which currently consumes 5500 Mwh/year, will self-produce 75% of its current consumption and will be able to ensure its future energy needs.

The group's model, whose industrial process was essentially based on the use of gas, will thus begin a shift towards an electricity self-consumption model based on photovoltaic power plants and will ultimately produce 4000 MWh per year. This energy production will cover the group's activities: industrial ovens and ovens, lighting, heating, mobility.

A collaboration between three regional players

This large-scale project, with a total investment of 9 million euros, is carried out by 3 regional players: the Denis Group, the Nexhos Group responsible for the design, installation and maintenance of the energy project and Crédit Agricole d'Ille-et-Vilaine which provides equity and structured debt. Their respective networks, the complementarity of their long-standing know-how and expertise, as well as their strong territorial roots, have enabled a natural collaboration between these well-known players in the local economy.

With this project, the Nexhos Group, via its subsidiary Nexhos Energies, confirms its pioneering role in self-consumption and the exploitation of green energy.

NEXHOS ENERGIES, a subsidiary of the Nexhos Group created in 2024 by Pascal Martin, following the acquisition of the companies LEGENDRE ENERGIE, ARMORGREEN, ENER24 and GREENERGIE, has 15 years of experience across the entire photovoltaic value chain, from design to production, including installation and maintenance. It has more than 1000 installations to its credit in France and supervises 2000 sites with its maintenance subsidiary.

The company specializes in large-scale solar installations on the roofs of industrial buildings or in shade houses and also develops ground-mounted power plant projects. Nexhos Énergies, which collaborates with a varied clientele of users (industrialists, logisticians, shopping centers, communities, farmers) and investors (developers, real estate companies), provides a global response to energy-related needs. Sustainable solutions ranging from self-consumption to electric vehicle charging stations, including storage.

For Pascal Martin, President of the Nexhos Group: “This project perfectly embodies our know-how in the field of solar photovoltaics and our ability to manage complex projects. With self-consumption, we help our customers enter a new era of energy independence. »

The DENIS Group is a multi-departmental group on a human scale, present in the West of France since 1979. The group is both a distributor and manufacturer of construction materials. Its subsidiary, Denis Matériaux, a local, independent, committed company with recognized expertise, has been manufacturing and distributing construction materials for over 45 years.

The operation concerns 14 Denis Group sites located throughout Brittany including: Mordelles (35), Redon (35), Montfort (35), Noyal-Pontivy (56), Dol-de-Bretagne (35), Hennebont (56). ), Combourg (35), Elven (56), Langon (35), Muzillac (56), Guignen (35), Saint-Maudez (22).

For Renan Denis, Chairman and CEO of Denis Matériaux: “The investment of nearly €10 million on 10 group roofs and three storage canopies (Denis Mat or Perin) proved to be a necessity on two levels. First of all, the tertiary decree requires us to globally rethink our way of consuming (-40% by 2030) and following a thorough CSR audit the group has put in place a global action plan which consists of: to renew the lighting equipment in our stores, shut down our oil and gas boilers, put in place technical building management, switch our light vehicles and trolleys to all-electric and finally insulate, ventilate and heat our drying ovens. Blocks, due to the use of less carbonaceous cements.

All of these changes generated a significant increase in annual consumption (from 6.000 MW to nearly 18.000 MW). Unsustainable electricity consumption for the group and of course for the nation. This acceleration in consumption will force the country to more than double its production of renewable energy by 2035 to more than 650 TWh (source RTE).

Our group also has the obligation to renovate our real estate, often requiring asbestos removal and a brand new roof. Regarding shade houses, we are going to increase our storage areas by more than 2.000 m². We are therefore modernizing and expanding our trading and industrial work tools as part of an investment.

With this project, we will generate mainly in self-consumption 4.200 MW/year, i.e. 70% of our current needs at a cost competitive with the current market and above all gain our energy independence, against the future vagaries of the electricity cost which with the electricity market. Supply and demand will only get more expensive. »

Crédit Agricole d’Ille-et-Vilaine

For Arnaud Douard, Financial Director of Crédit Agricole d'Ille et Vilaine: "The Caisse Régionale du Crédit Agricole d'Ille et Vilaine has become a Mission Company in 2023 in order to best respond to its purpose: Acting every day in the interest of our customers and society, through 5 commitments including one on Transitions.

Anxious to act to succeed in the economic and environmental transition of its territory and to act for the future by supporting Bretillians in their transitions, it is notably strengthening its commitment to renewable energies.

The project led by Denis Matériaux is fully in line with this commitment, which is why we are very happy to support with Equity a recognized economic player in the region like Denis Matériaux on an ambitious and structuring project of solarization of fourteen sites of exploitation.

Crédit Agricole d'Ille et Vilaine is also undertaking other third-party investor and collective self-consumption initiatives for which it has allocated €5 million in own funds, thus marking its desire to become a producer of renewable energy. »

Key figures of the project

• 4,23 MW peak installed
• 4323 MWh/year planned annual power
• €9 million investment
• 14 equipped sites, 11 of which concern roof renovation and 4 the installation of shade structures

Provisional timetable

• January - end of July 2023: Site visits and validation of project feasibility
• Last quarter 2023: Submission of work declarations and urban planning authorization deadline
• 1st and 2nd quarter 2024: connection requests and execution studies
• From the 3rd quarter of 2024: start of the work phase which extends until summer 2025
• End of 2024 - July 2025: Reception and commissioning of the first power plants