Brazil’s anti-trust watchdog Cade has approved TotalEnergies purchase of a third of the power generation business of Casa dos Ventos, one of the Latin American country’s biggest renewable energy players.
The French oil giant in October had announced its plan to hold a 34% stake in a joint venture that will develop and operate a portfolio of projects encompassing more than 10GW in wind and solar. Casa dos Ventos will hold the remaining 66%.
“The new company makes our energy more competitive and enables a faster expansion of our generation arm,” Casa dos Ventos executive director Lucas Araripe said.
“Next to providing new capital, the partnership strengthens our credit capacity, in addition to expanding our client portfolio.”
The transaction is the largest in Brazil’s renewable energy market and moves R$4.2bn ($822m) in equity and debt, while the entire joint venture is valued at R$12.6bn, Casa dos Ventos said.
Casa dos Ventos after the transaction will be split into two companies – the joint venture with TotalEnergies for generation (including construction and operation), and a project development unit.
The projects going into the JV include 700MW of operating onshore wind and another 1GW under construction, with an additional 2.8GW of onshore turbines and 1.6GW of solar under well advanced development and due to enter service within five years.
The new venture will have a right to acquire projects from a 6GW-strong additional portfolio of projects that Casa dos Ventos is advancing.
The French oil & gas giant is among the most ambitious of the world’s fossil fuel players in amassing a green power base, with goals for 35GW by 2025 and 100GW by 2030, both gross.
