De Gaulle Fleurance assisted Épopée Gestion and Enervivo in setting up, alongside Urbeez, a platform dedicated to financing biomethane injection projects in France. With €10 million in funding, the vast majority of which was provided by Épopée Gestion, the platform aims to finance around ten projects over the next three to four years.
The platform will focus primarily on brownfield projects, involving the conversion of existing combined heat and power (CHP) units to biomethane injection. Greenfield projects may also be considered, as well as projects developed by organisations other than Urbeez.
An initial investment is planned for a facility located in La Chapelle, in the Charente region, with a capacity of 25 GWh per year, scheduled to come online in the autumn of 2027. The targeted projects will primarily focus on agricultural facilities with a capacity ranging from 15 to 40 GWh per year.
This initiative comes against a backdrop of evolving business models in the biomethane sector. Whilst some projects in Urbeez’s portfolio benefit from a feed-in tariff, the platform intends to rely primarily on biogas production certificates (CPB) and may also utilise biogas purchase agreements (BPA).
De Gaulle Fleurance advised Epopée Gestion and Enervivo on this transaction, handling transactional and audit matters, with:
• Transactional matters: Sylvie Perrin (partner), Anne Kuhanathan (senior manager), Paul Lefevre (solicitor), Lionel Attal (partner), Béatrice Boisnier (solicitor)
• Audit: Michaël Haddak (senior manager), Anaëlle Degrémont (solicitor), Mathilde Traumat (solicitor), Tiphaine Gaubert (senior manager)
Urbeez was advised by Lexcase (Pénélope Bouchard and Camille Bigan).
Sylvie Perrin, a partner at De Gaulle Fleurance, stated: “This transaction marks a new milestone in the development of the biomethane sector in France. The conversion of existing facilities for grid injection accelerates the deployment of production capacity, whilst the development of new business models—particularly those centred on biogas production certificates—opens up new financing opportunities. We are pleased to have supported Épopée Gestion and Enervivo in structuring this platform, which combines industrial expertise and investment capacity to advance the development of biomethane.”
