Source: UGANDA BUSINESS NEWS
Investment part of French oil major’s push to expand renewable energy portfolio
TotalEnergies has agreed to buy a minority stake in the Bujagali hydropower project on the Nile River from Norwegian energy company Scatec, the French oil major said Tuesday.
The investment represents a 28.3 percent stake in the 250 MW Bujagali hydropower plant for TotalEnergies and is part of its push to expand its renewable energy portfolio. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in a news release.
The deal will see TotalEnergies acquire 100 percent of SN Power, Scatec’s subsidiary which has stakes in hydroelectric projects in Africa in a joint venture with Norfund, the Norwegian state development finance institution, and British International Investment, a UK government-backed company. TotalEnergies will buy SN Power’s 51 percent interest in the joint venture.
As part of the deal, TotalEnergies will also acquire minority stakes in two planned hydropower projects in Rwanda and Malawi.
“This acquisition of renewable hydroelectric assets and projects in Africa reflects our desire to contribute to the continent’s energy transition by bringing electricity to the people of African countries. In particular, we are delighted to become a player in hydropower in Uganda, a country where we are also developing a major oil project,” said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive of TotalEnergies, in a statement.
“This is another example of TotalEnergies’ ability to implement its multi-energy strategy in oil-producing countries to support them in their energy transition.”
Like many other majors that have announced and are pursuing plans to reduce carbon emissions in an effort to avert the worst effects of climate change, TotalEnergies says it aims to achieve net zero emissions — a balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions removed from the atmosphere — by 2050.
As part of this transition, TotalEnergies is building a “cost-competitive portfolio combining renewables (solar, onshore and offshore wind) and flexible assets (CCGT, storage) to deliver clean firm power to its customers,” the company said.
It added: “At the end of 2023, TotalEnergies’ gross installed renewable electricity generation capacity was 22 GW. TotalEnergies will continue to expand this business to reach 35 GW in 2025 and more than 100 TWh of net electricity production by 2030.”Tag
THE AUTHOR: Uganda Business News
