TotalEnergies Expands Renewable Energy Impact With $1.66bn Deal

TotalEnergies is deepening its renewable energy impact after it announced buying out all remaining shares in renewable energy developer Total Eren for $1.66 billion.

With this it has thus raised its stake in the firm to 100 per cent from 30 per cent, it said on Tuesday.

The acquisition of the 70.8 per cent stake in Total Eren that TotalEnergies did not already own is part of the energy giant’s strategy to pursue profitable growth in the renewable energy sector.

The deal follows a strategic agreement signed between TotalEnergies and Total Eren in 2017, which granted TotalEnergies the right to acquire all of Total Eren after a five-year period.

Currently, Total Eren has 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity in operation worldwide and a solar, wind, hydroelectric, and storage projects pipeline of more than 10 GW in 30 countries, including 1.2 GW in construction or late-stage development.

“With the acquisition and integration of Total Eren we are now opening a new chapter of our development as the expertise of its team and its complementary geographical footprint will strengthen our renewable activities and our ability to build a profitable integrated power player,” TotalEnergies chairman and CEO, Patrick Pouyanné said in a statement.

TotalEnergies has recently signed several deals to expand its renewables business in several countries, including in Turkey, Algeria, and Germany.

In Turkey, TotalEnergies signed on Monday an agreement with Rönesans Holding to buy a 50 per cent stake in Rönesans Enerji and jointly develop, through this joint venture, renewable projects in Turkey, which is a liberalised growing electricity market.

Earlier this summer, the French supermajor extended its partnership with Algerian state firm Sonatrach to cooperate in the development of renewable energy projects in Algeria and signed a collaboration agreement with Petronas’s company Gentari Renewables to develop renewable energy projects in the Asia Pacific region. 

Earlier this month, TotalEnergies was awarded two offshore licenses in the German North Sea and German Baltic Sea for offshore wind development, with capacity potential of 2 GW and 1 GW, respectively.

Germany held a landmark offshore wind tender, in which energy supermajors BP and TotalEnergies won all of the 7 GW capacity on offer. BP secured leases at two North Sea sites off the coast of Helgoland with total generating potential of about 4 GW, while TotalEnergies secured the other two sites