TotalEnergies, a multinational integrated oil and gas firm, acquired Austin-based Core Solar, a solar project developer, which owns more than 4 GW of utility-scale solar and energy storage projects at various stages of development across several U.S. states.
Core Solar’s CEO Greg Nelson and his employees will join TotalEnergies’ teams as part of the transaction.
With the acquisition, TotalEnergies further increases its presence in the U.S., where it currently owns a portfolio of more than 10 GW of renewable projects in operation, construction, and under development.
Mercom had earlier reported that in February 2022, TotalEnergies had signed a definitive agreement to acquire SunPower’s commercial and industrial (C&I) solutions business for $250 million, including $60 million of earn-out. The acquisition will help TotalEnergies develop its distributed generation business, accounting for about 500 MW in operation worldwide. It will allow the company to extend its distributed generation business footprint to the U.S. and develop over 100 MW of additional capacity annually.
Earlier this month, TotalEnergies entered a 50-50 partnership with Japanese petroleum company ENEOS to develop 2 GW of decentralized onsite solar capacity for commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers in Asia in the next five years. TotalEnergies will leverage its expertise in the B2B market to strengthen its global footprint.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 Solar Funding and M&A Report, large-scale solar project acquisition activity remained strong, with over 23 GW of solar projects acquired in Q1 2022 compared to 13.1 GW in Q4 2021. Year-over-year, 15 GW were acquired in Q1 2021. Large-scale solar project acquisitions in Q1 2022 were the second-highest recorded to date.
