TotalEnergies to invest $444 million in solar venture with Adani

MUMBAI: India’s Adani Group will set up a joint venture with TotalEnergies to manage a 1,150-megawatt portfolio of solar projects in the western state of Gujarat, the company said Tuesday.

The deal, which will expand business ties between Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate and the French firm, will see Adani Green Energy (AGEL) contribute its “current assets” to the new joint venture.

TotalEnergies will invest $444 million to “accelerate the development of these projects”.

A separate exchange filing said that AGEL and TotalEnergies will hold an equal stake in the tie-up.

AGEL is 19.75 percent owned by TotalEnergies.

“The projects are located at the world’s largest renewable energy plant in Khavda, Gujarat,” AGEL said in a statement.

The Khvada site will extend over 538 square kilometres (207 square miles) — five times the size of Paris — and is aimed to produce solar and wind capacity of 30 GW, with 2GW already being produced by AGEL, TotalEnergies said in a statement.

The electricity generated from the projects will be sold through purchase agreements with the Solar Energy Corporation of India and through sales on the wholesale market.

“This new transaction will allow TotalEnergies to capitalise on the ongoing liberalisation of the Indian electricity market,” TotalEnergies said.

TotalEnergies has also been rapidly developing renewable electricity production, with 22 GW of installed gross production capacity at the end of 2023.

It aims to expand this to 35 GW by 2025.

The Adani Group, a sprawling ports-to-power conglomerate, saw $150 billion wiped from its market value in early 2023 after a bombshell report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud.

In the aftermath of that, TotalEnergies said its capital exposure to Adani was “limited” at $3.1 billion.

The company also said it was putting on hold a deal to create a new hydrogen company with the conglomerate.

In September 2023, however, the two companies unveiled plans to create a joint venture to develop wind and solar electricity production in India.