EDF Renewables, an independent power producer and services provider, acquired a 529 MW portfolio of development-stage solar projects in Germany from MEC Group, a solar and wind project developer.
Solar projects with capacities ranging from 8 MW to 99 MW are spread across Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania, and Brandenburg. They are the first solar project development pipeline acquired by EDF in Germany.
EDF Renewables operates a portfolio of around 180 MW of onshore wind power in Germany; this latest acquisition bolsters the company’s goal of reaching 60 GW of net renewables capacity by 2030.
EDF Renewables was selected as the preferred bidder following a tender process launched by MEC Energy in 2022. The transaction is based on a conditional sale agreement providing development services for the 17 ground-mounted PV projects.
Watson Farley & Williams advised MEC Energy on the sale and the conclusion of a development services agreement for the projects until ready-to-build status is achieved.
The WFW Germany Hamburg Corporate team that advised MEC Energy was led by Partner Wolfram Böge, who said: “We are pleased to have advised MEC Energy on this key solar project pipeline sale to EDF. “Our involvement highlights WFW Germany’s expertise in advising on large-scale renewables transactions in the corporate space and our ability to expertly handle complex co-development structures involving the development of projects until the RTB stage.”
According to Mercom Annual and Q4 2022 Solar Funding and M&A report, 268 large-scale solar project acquisitions were recorded in 2022 compared to 280 in 2021. In 2022, about 66 GW of solar projects were acquired, with project developers picking up the most, reaching 35.7 GW. Clean energy investment platform CleanCapital recently acquired a portfolio of 34.5 MW operating solar projects in New Jersey.
