French energy company Engie announced on Tuesday that it was acquiring the activities of BTE Renewables in South Africa, thereby doubling its renewable energy production capacity in the country, in line with its strategy of diversifying into solar and wind power.
The French group, which has historically focused on gas but is in the process of diversifying, has not disclosed the amount for which it is buying these activities from the British investment fund Actis.
A statement from the group, which currently operates 315 MW of renewable assets in South Africa, said that “the acquisition of BTE will bring Engie 340MW net of renewable and operational capacity (150MW of onshore wind and 190MW of solar photovoltaic)”. To this is added a “portfolio of more than 3GW of projects at an advanced stage of development”, the press release said.
Engie, the leading wind and solar energy operator in France and fourth in Europe is targeting annual growth of 4 GW until 2025, then 6 GW over 2026-2030 to reach 80 GW worldwide by 2030.
The acquisition of these assets – two wind farms in the south of the country and three solar farms in the north and north-west – is a “very important step” in the strengthening and development of the group in South Africa, said Mr. Guiollot.
Despite “its energy instability”, “this is a country in which we believe very deeply”, he added, well aware of the “two enormous structural challenges” that South Africa will have to face: “decarbonizing assets that emit a lot of CO2”, due to its old-generation coal-fired power stations, “and then gaining in stability and reliability”.