Norwegian Firm Equinor Set Acquire BeGreen And 6 GW Solar Portfolio In Europe

Norwegian energy firm Equinor has entered into an agreement with Denmark based solar project developer, BeGreen, that boasts of a pipeline of projects worth 6 GW in Denmark, Poland and Sweden- with an average project size of 300 MW. BeGreen also has a strong presence in Europe, where it has developed and sold more than 700 MW subsidy-free commercial solar. With the initiative, Equinor looks to augment its solar PV market.

Post acquisition, BeGreen is set to become a fully-owned subsidiary of Equinor, with the current team continuing to develop solar PV projects. Equinor’s subsidiary, Danske Commodities will sell the power generated from the facilities.

“Equinor contributes with a long-term industrial perspective, financial capacity, and advanced trading capabilities through Danske Commodities,” shared Olav Kolbeinstveit, Equinor’s Senior Vice President for Power and Markets in Renewables, while Equinor’s Executive Vice President for Renewables, Pål Eitrheim added, “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.”

Equinor’s Acquisitions

With the acquisition of BeGreen, Equinor’s position as a market-driven producer of power will be further cemented as the firm’s portfolio is set to deliver between 4% to 8% of real base project return for renewable projects, which also entails acquisition price.

In 2021, Equinor had also made an acquisition of Wento- a Poland-based renewables developer- with a 100 per cent stake. This had augmented the Norwegian firm’s solar portfolio by another 1.6 GW. Other than this, Equinor also holds a stake of 13.1% in another Norwegian renewable energy firm called Scatec. This has enabled Equinor to make its presence felt in the solar markets of Brazil and Argentina.

Equinor’s Indian Presence

India is among the many countries where Equinor has set up projects. In May 2022, the Norwegian state-owned energy utility had joined hands with India’s ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation) for several projects, primary among which was renewables and CCS (carbon capture utilization and storage).

Very recently, Equinor also signed an agreement with Centrica to pave the way for the development of a low-carbon hydrogen production hub in East Yorkshire.