Wind farms on the way • Rebaix/Bouvignies. After a pause due to the delayed delivery of wind turbine parts, work resumed in March 2020. The three wind turbines should be operational by the end of 2020. One of them is reserved for Eoly Cooperative. • Further progress has been made with the permit applications for three wind turbines in Lessines/Silly and two wind turbines in Frasnes-lez-Anvaing. • Ronquières. In February 2020, an information meeting was held for local residents. We plan to apply for planning permission for seven turbines in February 2021. • Many projects are also planned in Flanders, for instance in Dendermonde, Bornem, Zele, Lummen and beside the E40 in the polders.
New energy holding company Virya
Energy set up
Colruyt Group and its family majority shareholder Korys set up a new energy holding company under the name Virya Energy in December 2019. This company is active in the production of sustainable energy, with a major focus on wind energy, both offshore and onshore. Virya Energy aims for international expansion, wants to increase its production capacity further and match this as far as possible to the sustainable energy world of tomorrow.
wind energy activities of Eoly to a newly founded company, Eoly Energy. These comprised 13 wind turbines, permits and staff responsible for the maintenance and management of existing wind farms and the development of new wind farms. At the end of May, Colruyt Group transferred the whole of Eoly Energy to Virya Energy. Via its subsidiary Eoly Energy, Virya Energy now supplies green electricity to Colruyt Group. The solar panels and cogeneration units were not transferred and will continue to be managed by Colruyt Group in future.
Colruyt Group and Korys transferred their holdings in Parkwind NV (offshore wind energy) and Eurowatt SA (onshore wind energy) to Virya Energy in December 2019. The aim of this was to centralise the management of the energy production activities of the underlying companies, to increase technological expertise, and to create economies of scale and continuity in the capital-intensive and fast-growing renewable energy sector. Before the transaction, Colruyt Group had a 60,13% direct stake in Parkwind. Colruyt Group now has a majority stake in the energy holding company Virya Energy.
In June 2020, Virya Energy acquired the shares of minority shareholder ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV) in Parkwind, so that Virya Energy now owns 100% of the shares in Parkwind. In the transactions, Colruyt Group and Korys complied with the requirements of the conflict of interest rules. As a result of the transfer of Eurowatt SA to Virya Energy, Colruyt Group now also has an indirect stake in Eurowatt. Eurowatt is mainly active in onshore wind energy in France, but is also present in the Polish, Spanish and Portuguese renewable energy markets.
After the close of the financial year, Colruyt Group transferred all assets relating to the renewable
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