Octopus' Greg Jackson and Zoisa North-Bond with Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak - Credit: Octopus Energy
Octopus eyes one million French customers with £1bn clean energy investment and tech hub in Paris
Octopus Energy has announced plans to invest €1bn in the French green energy market and create a new European clean tech hub at today's Franco-British Summit chaired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The UK's third largest energy retailer will spread its green investment over the next two years as it looks to reach one million customers in France by 2026 and generate enough local green power to supply 300,000 households.
Octopus will also launch a tech hub in Paris through subsidiary Kraken that is set to create hundreds of clean energy jobs.
The announcement comes just over a year after Octopus first entered the French energy market with its acquisition of French energy supplier Plume énergie in January 2022.
Octopus CEO and founder Greg Jackson announced the "huge increase" in the firm's French investment plan at the 36th Franco-British Summit. "This is testament to the mutual commitment to investing in a clean energy system, and pioneering the digitisation which will drive costs down alongside carbon," he said.
Vincent Maillard, CEO of Octopus Energy France, said he was proud to see Octopus' role in France's energy transition recognised at the highest level of government.
"The group combines retail energy expertise, major investments in renewable generation and cutting-edge technology to unlock innovative tariffs and deliver an outstanding customer experience to French households," he said.
The announcement coincided with the unveiling of a new cross-Channel renewables and energy security partnership between the UK and France today by UK Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps and France's Energy Minister Agnes Pannier Runacher.
The new 'Blueprint for UK-France Energy Cooperation' commits the two countries to work with other G7 leaders to reduce reliance on Russian energy exports and explore the potential to boost electricity interconnection between the UK and France by up to two-thirds.
Announcing the collaboration today, Shapps emphasised that "successful economies need plentiful and reliable energy".
"Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated that energy security can only be achieved by working with our international friends," added Shapps. "We are already partnering with France through these energy interconnectors, but we share the ambition to go much further. Today's agreement could lead to two thirds boost in our interconnected power bringing more energy security and independence to the United Kingdom and France."
The two countries also are also exploring the potential to work together on the development of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), according to the UK government, which noted the North Sea holds the potential to store 78 billion tonnes of CO2 on the continental shelf, which it believes could be turned into a multi-billion pound industry.
