Norway's Equinor acquired around 11 million shares in Scatec Solar, corresponding to 9.7 percent of the voting shares, at a purchase price of approximately 700 million Norwegian krone ($82.4 million), the company announced on Thursday.
'The investment in Scatec Solar will increase Equinor’s exposure to a fast growing renewable sector, further complementing Equinor’s portfolio with profitable solar energy. This is in line with our strategy to develop into a broad energy company,' said Pal Eitrheim, executive vice president of Equinor's new energy solutions department.
Partnering with Scatec Solar, Equinor entered its first solar development project in 2017 through the Apodi asset in Brazil, followed by a second joint project in June 2018 with the Guanizul 2A in Argentina.
Equinor also developed a sizeable offshore wind portfolio, and is the operator of the Sheringham Shoal with 317 megawatts (MW), Dudgeon with 402 MW and Hywind Scotland with 30MW.
In addition, Equinor is a partner in the E.on-operated Arkona wind farm (378 MW), and has several other wind projects in the pipeline.
Scatec Solar, an integrated independent solar power producer, produces electricity from operating plants with installed capacity of 357 MW and has another 1,057 MW under construction.
The company has a project backlog and pipeline of about 4.3 gigawatts (GW) under development in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The company is headquartered in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
(US$1 = 8.49 NOK at the sales transaction time)
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr