TotalEnergies announced May 25 that it agreed to acquire half of Global Infrastructure Partners’ stake in Clearway Energy Group, the fifth largest renewable energy player in the U.S.
GIP will receive $1.6 billion in cash and about half of the TotalEnergies unit that holds its 50.6 percent ownership in SunPower Corp., a publicly traded leader in U.S. residential solar markets.
Both transactions must clear regulators.
CEG, a developer of renewables projects, controls and owns 42 percent of the economic interest of its publicly traded subsidiary, Clearway Energy Inc., into which projects are dropped when they reach commercial operation. Based in San Francisco, it has about 760 employees.
The agreement represents TotalEnergies’ largest investment in U.S. renewables, one of the top three renewable markets in the world.
TotalEnergies used Latham & Watkins for outside counsel led by Houston partners Ryan Maierson, Ryan Lynch and Stephen Szalkowski with associates Alice Parker, Bryan Ryan, Brea Buck, Austin Sheehy, Haley Sandoval and Vera Bespalova. Houston partners Tim Fenn and Jim Cole worked on the tax aspects.
Cynthia Martinez is assistant general counsel for renewable energy at TotalEnergies in Houston.
GIP’s outside counsel on the Clearway deal was Simpson Thacher led by partner Eli Hunt in New York (the team also included associate Kristy Fields on executive compensation and benefits in Houston). Its outside counsel on the SunPower deal was Allen & Overy.
With this acquisition, TotalEnergies said it is establishing a major position in the U.S. renewable energy and storage market. Clearway has 7.7 gigawatts of wind and solar assets in operation through its listed subsidiary and has a 25 gigawatt pipeline of renewable and storage projects, of which 15 gigawatts are in an advanced stage of development.
The acquisition brings TotalEnergies’ renewable portfolio in the U.S. to more than 25 gigawatts and contributes to the objective that the U.S. account for at least 25 percent of the company’s global target of 100 gigawatts by 2030.
In large-scale solar, TotalEnergies is already developing 8 gigawatts of projects following the purchase of a portfolio from SunChase, its partnership with Hanwha Energy and the recent acquisition of Core Solar.
In offshore wind, TotalEnergies will develop 4 gigawatts of projects off the coast of New York and North Carolina, after having been successful in tenders, it said.