07.09.2021 | Axpo has significantly increased its team in France
Equipe à grande vitesse
Axpo France is growing at a rapid pace, almost doubling its workforce since the beginning of 2021. The expansion of business activities and associated growth in its customer base have seen the creation of new back-office and mid-office departments at the company's headquarters in Lyon.
It is just over three years since Axpo France moved headquarters from Paris to Lyon, when five employees packed their bags and moved from the French capital to the country's second-largest economic hub. Today, 16 energy trading experts work at the company’s offices, on the banks of the Rhône and Saône rivers.
Joanna Juszczak, Managing Director Axpo France, explains: "It has always been our goal to further expand our business, and Lyon is the ideal location. The city has long been home to many energy-intensive industries and is also the gateway to southern France, where a particularly large number of renewable energy projects are being implemented. As a result, in recent years Lyon has become the French renewable energy capital. Logically, Axpo also has to be represented here."
Wind power and solar energy are where Axpo France aims to continue its growth, with marketing renewable energies at the heart of its business. In addition to origination, which involves balancing energy and long-term supply contracts, Joanna Juszczak's team wants to focus even more consistently than before on power purchase agreements (PPAs).
"In France, green electricity investors and producers are increasingly looking for buyers to attract investment and price security for their projects,” she continues. “At the same time, a growing number of energy-intensive industrial companies in particular are seeking electricity from renewable energy sources. Axpo has extensive expertise in PPAs in many countries, and we now want to play this mediating role between producers and consumers in the French market even more aggressively than before."
To prepare for this, Joanna has significantly expanded her team in Lyon since the beginning of the year, with six new colleagues joining to increase back- and mid-office capacity.
The first was Gilles Gattiker, who joined Axpo France in January as Senior Operations Controller. At his side, Antonio Piazza was hired as Operations Controller in June after a four-month internship. Their combined expertise secures booking and billing for Axpo France clients, contributing to a positive customer relationship by ensuring that their businesses are closely supported.
Louis Le Pogam joined the team in March as a business analyst responsible for investigating the technical challenges faced by the billing team, proposing solutions and implementing them.
In May, Belkacem Kaci joined the team as Mid Office Origination Specialist. He is responsible for the control, integration and validation of contracts on the IT systems, bringing his expertise in risk and contract management to the role.
The following month, Louis Chesneau was hired as Front Office Business Support, responsible for onboarding and managing Axpo France's PPA portfolio.
Last but not least, in early July Joanna Juszczak welcomed Mohamed Dazi to the team. As Business Analyst for Data Management, he is responsible for ensuring the data used in all processes is correct. For example, he makes sure that data transmission from network operators is permanent and reliable, guaranteeing contract processing through to billing for Axpo France customers.
Joanna is delighted with her expanded team: "We are now ideally equipped to offer comprehensive services in renewable energies, emission certificates, portfolio management and structured products to an ever-growing customer base. With our new colleagues on board, I’m really looking forward to continued success for Axpo France!"
About Axpo France
Responsible for Axpo's origination activities in the French electricity and gas sectors, Axpo France offers local, regional and national clients a range of services in portfolio management, structured products, emission certificates and renewable energy. The Lyon-based subsidiary also maintains partnerships with other energy traders, producers and resellers in the wholesale market. Its 16-member team is led by Joanna Juszczak.
Growth also at Urbasolar
Axpo's second French subsidiary is also significantly increasing its workforce: Urbasolar will hire 100 new employees over the next twelve months. Since 2017, the number of employees at the solar plant developer has increased by 30% every year and this will continue in the future. The reason for this is the strong growth of the Montpellier-based company's business activities. In addition to the French market, where Urbasolar is one of the leading players, other European countries will be targeted more strongly in the future - especially Spain and Italy. In addition, Urbasolar has been active for years with projects in Africa and overseas, so it can also offer its employees international career opportunities. The 100 additional jobs are being created in a wide range of areas - from engineering and research and development to information technology and legal and finance. In total, 340 photovoltaic experts work at Urbasolar.
Photos: Philippe Thery
