Petronas, a Malaysian state-owned oil company, announced that its clean energy subsidiary Gentari Renewables Australia had completed the purchase of Australian renewables firm Wirsol Energy, which has solar and battery energy storage integration capabilities and a pipeline of development projects.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Wirsol Energy, which entered the Australian renewable energy market in 2017, owns and operates renewable energy and storage projects across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria, and Queensland. Its portfolio includes 422 MW of operational solar and storage projects and 765 MW potential capacity in projects under development.
The Australian Government has an economy-wide emissions reduction target of 26-28% by 2030, based on 2005 levels, with the Renewable Energy Target’s scheme to promote renewable electricity generation.
Commenting on the news, Sushil Purohit, CEO of Gentari, said: “Australia offers strong market potential, underpinned by supportive government policies and a robust financing ecosystem, making the investment into WIRSOL Energy a natural choice for Gentari. This addition to Gentari’s portfolio will enable us to continue our efforts in building capacity for delivering integrated sustainable energy solutions, to help customers make the journey to net zero emissions.”
According to Gentari, the acquisition will help it to meet its target of having up to 40 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. It will also expand the company’s overall renewable portfolio by nearly 1.6 GW across Malaysia, India, the UAE, and Australia.
According to Mercom’s Q4 and Annual Solar Funding and M&A Report, 128 mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions were recorded in 2022—the highest since 2010, including eight deals exceeding a billion dollars each.
Last year, EQT Infrastructure, an investment firm, announced that its EQT Infrastructure VI fund acquired Madison Energy Investments (MEI), a solar and energy storage project developer, from affiliates of Stonepeak Partners.
