Transitioning Norwegian energy giant Equinor has set the seal on take-over Polish solar developer Wento, completing the €91m ($109m) deal the same day it was awarded contracts for difference (CfD) for a combined 1.44GW of Baltic Sea wind capacity off the Eastern European country.
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The acquisition of Wento – Equinor’s biggest foray yet in to solar, following investments in projects in Brazil as well as in floating PV and a promising perovskite technology being developed by Oxford Photovoltaics – brings with it a total net pipeline of some 1.6GW of solar projects “in different stages of development”.
Equinor said the take-over underlined its “ambition is to play an important role in Poland’s energy transition… and also in line with our renewables strategy to gradually develop profitable onshore positions in select power markets.”
Pål Eitrheim, executive vice president for New Energy Solutions at Equinor, said: “This transaction will strengthen and diversify our portfolio in Poland, an emerging core area for Equinor. It gives us an onshore growth platform in a transition market set for significant renewables growth.”
Equinor is gearing up its energy transition shift away from offshore oil & gas toward offshore wind, with giga-scale clusters being developed in the North Sea, US Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.
