Equinor Buys European Solar Developer

Norwegian energy major Equinor has signed an agreement to buy BeGreen, a leading solar project developer in North-West Europe.

Equinor said in a statement that the acquisition strengthens the company’s capabilities and portfolio within solar PV.

“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. For Equinor, this is a step to deliver on our aim of being a market-driven power producer,” says Pål Eitrheim, executive vice president for Renewables in Equinor.

Today, BeGreen is owned by the Bregentved Group and members of the executive board. Following the transaction, BeGreen will be a fully owned Equinor subsidiary, and the current team and management will continue developing solar PV projects.

The future power from the BeGreen portfolio will be commercialized in the energy market by Equinor’s subsidiary Danske Commodities, utilizing its extensive market presence and expertise to capture opportunities in the market.

The BeGreen project portfolio is anticipated to deliver within Equinor’s expected range of 4-8% real base project return for renewables projects, including acquisition price.

Since it was established, the BeGreen team has fully developed, sold, and delivered solar PV capacity of more than 700 MW. As of today, BeGreen has established a project pipeline in the early to medium stages of maturity of over 6 GW in Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, with an average project size of 300 MW.

“With the new ownership, our financial capacity will significantly expand, allowing us to offer even more support to the green transition in Europe. For us, it's a perfect match. Equinor and BeGreen share the same ambition, and we are both aiming for the highest standards for ESG and integrity. We want to expand solar energy as an inexpensive, stable, and secure sustainable energy source contributing to making Europe independent in energy supply. It has been essential for us to find future ownership that appreciates the teamwork and entrepreneurship we consider the DNA of BeGreen’s highly skilled employees and cooperation partners,” Anders Dolmer, CEO of BeGreen, added.

"The BeGreen acquisition is an example of how we selectively enter attractive markets through established companies characterized by high-quality teams, proven track records, and strong project pipelines. Equinor contributes with a long-term industrial perspective, financial capacity, and advanced trading capabilities through Danske Commodities. We aim to capture value through transforming and scaling the businesses together with the local teams and leveraging synergies within Equinor,” Olav Kolbeinstveit, senior vice president for power and markets within Renewables at Equinor, stated.

Over the last few years, Equinor has been developing onshore renewables and storage positions in Europe through investment in local companies securing both capabilities and early-phase project pipelines such as Wento in Poland and Noriker Power in the UK. With this, Equinor is progressing on its energy transition plan.

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