With a view to strengthen its solar PV capabilities, Norway based energy company Equinor has signed on an agreement to acquire Danish solar projects developer BeGreen that touts a project pipeline of over 6 GW assets in Denmark, Sweden and Poland.
Headed by CEO Anders Dolmer, BeGreen has so far developed, sold and delivered over 700 MW subsidy-free commercial solar in Europe and its 6 GW pipeline includes an average project size of 300 MW.
It will now become a fully owned subsidiary of the Norwegian company with the existing team continuing to develop solar PV projects. Power generated from these facilities will be sold by Equinor subsidiary Danske Commodities.
"Equinor contributes with a long-term industrial perspective, financial capacity, and advanced trading capabilities through Danske Commodities," explained Olav Kolbeinstveit, Equinor's Senior Vice President for Power and Markets within Renewables.
For Equinor, the acquisition boosts its position as a market-driven power producer. Its portfolio is expected to deliver between 4% to 8% of real base project return for renewable projects, including acquisition price.
Equinor's Executive Vice President for Renewables, Pål Eitrheim said, "BeGreen represents an important building block to our industrial renewables position in Europe, in line with our ambition to be a leading company in the energy transition. BeGreen has a proven track record as a solar developer and a strong project pipeline in attractive power markets."
Over a year back, the Norwegian company acquired Polish renewables developer Wento from Enterprise Investors with its 1.6 GW solar project pipeline (see Equinor Acquires Polish RE Developer Wento).
Equinor is also a 13.1% stakeholder in another Norwegian renewable energy company, Scatec. It is operating in the solar markets of Brazil and Argentina with stake in Scatec projects here.