On September 13, The Tribune announced that Arnaud Mine and Stéphanie Andrieu, the founders of the Montpellier company Urbasolar in 2006 and respectively chairman and general manager, handed over. The news was only half a surprise: Urbasolar had been acquired by the Swiss energy company Axpo in July 2019 and it is common for the handover between old and new leaders to take about two years.
Axpo integrates the wind and solar activities into two internal divisions. The Solar division will be managed by Antoine Millioud from October 1, and the latter is at the same time appointed CEO of Urbasolar.
If they had not officially spoken on September 13, the two Montpellier entrepreneurs, well known in the regional economic ecosystem, did so the day after this announcement.
An executive committee for the transition
It is indeed a page that is turned, as they write in a press release, but the two entrepreneurs insist together on the continuity that they have taken care to establish since the takeover by Axpo.
“Our departure is taking place under good conditions and continuity is a common desire on our part and that of Axpo, declares Stéphanie Andrieu who wants to reassure the partners and the 450 employees of Urbasolar. I will also keep a mandate to represent Urbasolar in different bodies: the CCI Hérault, the Medef and Montpellier Business School. »
Above all, Arnaud Mine and Stéphanie Andrieu say they have been preparing for the group’s transition to this new stage for six months, with the desire not to exceed the December 2022 deadline: ” We have largely contributed to the establishment of a new management team which will have to write the rest of the adventure”.
« We worked hard to bring in Antoine Millioud, whom we knew from having already worked with him, they add. An executive committee has been in place for nine months, including Gilles Amendola and Paul Keurinck (both Deputy Director General, Editor’s note) who have been with Urbasolar for more than ten years. »
The executive committee also includes Christophe Alcina, general secretary, and Gilles Attolini, financial director.
“A framework for an ambitious trajectory”
“In sixteen years, Urbasolar has established itself as a major player in the French photovoltaic sector, recall the two founders of the company. The company is now present in France, in Europe – with subsidiaries in Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany – but also in Africa, the Caribbean, Reunion and New Caledonia. »
The Montpellier company, which posted a turnover of 304 million euros (as of April 30, 2022, excluding the sale of electricity), claims a fleet of more than 1 GW and 650 power plants in operation (ground-mounted or floating plants, buildings, greenhouses, shadehouses), with emblematic projects such as the Toulouse-Oncopole plant or Disneyland Paris car park shades. And it announces more than 6 GW of new projects under development, when the Axpo group’s objective for its solar subsidiary is to develop 10 GW of photovoltaic power plants in Europe by 2030.
As they prepare to leave the keys (they still say to themselves ” dotted in the company until November”), the two entrepreneurs augur a bright future for Urbasolar: “ We leave with the feeling of the work accomplished and what matters to us is the sustainability of Urbasolar: yet we believe that we have prepared a framework for an ambitious trajectory with or without us. In three years, Urbasolar will go from 300 MW installed each year today to a volume of 800 to 1,000 MW, and from 450 to a thousand employees”.
green investments
If they let go of the controls of Urbasolar, Stéphanie Andrieu and Arnaud Mine have already laid the groundwork for their “life after”. Owners of the building that hosts Urbasolar’s headquarters in Montpellier, they have purchased another building, currently under renovation, which will house part of the workforce from June 2023, ” with the idea of creating a solar energy campus ».
Their new life will have two other parts. That of business-angels, on green investments: “ What interests us are entrepreneurial adventures, impact activities, everything related to sustainable development and the fight against climate change”.
They thus announce that they have invested in the Wood Building Industry project, led by the promoter Vestia and which consists of creating a factory of modular wooden constructions in Alès. ” We have also invested in the Phoenix Mobility project, which does car retrofitting in Grenoblethey add. We are going to conclude an investment in a biotech in PACA, and we are also investing in the space industry and in several French quantum computing companies. »
Finally, the two entrepreneurs also want to put their experience at the service of real estate developers (in Montpellier, Marseille or Paris) by bringing the energy component to their construction projects: “ There is a sensitivity to these subjects, without reluctance, but it is not the job of the promoters ».
No new business creation on the horizon? No, they answer, insisting on their desire to position themselves on the board from now on…