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© flickr/NASA Goddard Photo and Video
BNP Paribas focuses on clean energy
BNP Paribas has already invested in 50MW of solar assests
||| The French banking giant, BNP Paribas, has exceeded expectations by raising €160m through its Clean Energy fund this year. The fund was launched in 2008 and has already invested in 50MW of solar assets in Italy and onshore wind and solar investments in France and Ireland. The fund also favours small-scale hydro and biomass projects, but currently avoids offshore wind generation schemes, which carry higher risks. For the present the fund will concentrate on western Europe. It follows a ten-year buy-and-hold strategy that ensures the group will manage the asset for seven to eight years until cash returns stabilise. I
Antoine Frérot is appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement ||| Henri Proglio informed the Veolia Environnement Board of Directors, which met on December 12, of his decision to leave the post of Chairman of the Board. Mr Proglio will remain a Board director. All the members of the Veolia Environnement Board paid tribute to the unbounded commitment shown by Mr Proglio towards Veolia Environnement, which he widely contributed to create and led with determination, energy and passion to make the company the global
leader in environmental solutions. In accordance with the recommendations of its Nominations and Compensation Committee, the Board decided to unite the functions of Chairman of the Board and of Chief Executive Officer. The Board of Directors therefore appointed Antoine Frérot Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement. Mr. Frérot took on his new responsibilities on December 12. I
VINCI to dig station tunnels for Crossrail
© Crossrail
||| VINCI Construction Grands Projets and other partners in the BBMV consortium have won the €275 million contract (£235m) to build tunnels for the Liverpool Street and Whitechapel stations in London. The complex and challenging operation is part of the Crossrail project, which will provide an express rail
Whitechapel platform
20 - info - february / march 2011
link running east-west across London in 2018. Work on the station tunnels is scheduled to start in February 2011 and will represent about 190,000 m³ of excavation and 60,000 m³ of concrete lining once completed in an anticipated five years. VINCI’s share of the contract is 36.7 percent, and consists of input from VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche. The latter has shown its geotechnical expertise in such projects as Heathrow Terminal 5, the Jubilee Line extension, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the refurbishment of London’s St Pancras railway station. For its part VINCI Construction Grands Projets is a world leader in work on underground rail tunnels, in Sweden and Belgium and on the Cairo metro. The other members of the BBMV consortium are Alpine Beton und Monierbau, Balfour Beatty and Morgan Sindall. I