Malaysia’s Petronas is about to close on its first acquisition of an Australian renewable energy business. It will buy the solar farms and a large development pipeline of the German firm Wirsol, two people involved in the deal said.

One person involved in the talks said that the price of the sale could be between A$900 million and A$1 billion ($705 million).

The potential deal comes as Petronas aims to establish a renewables business through its company Gentari, which was started last year. Gentari wants to have 30–40 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity, especially solar, by 2030.

Spokespeople for Gentari and Wirsol did not respond to requests for comment.

Wirsol, which is owned by Wircon GmbH, put its Australian renewables business up for sale last year after giving up on plans to go public with the business.

The company’s website says that it runs solar farms and a battery across seven sites with a total capacity of 746 MW. It also has a development pipeline of about 700 MW and is the asset manager for 349 MW in Australia’s eastern states.

A banker who was familiar with Wirsol’s previous attempt to sell its Australian assets said that, based on a rough calculation, the operating assets are worth around A$700 million.

The company has had trouble selling its Australian solar farms in the past because of problems with the grid where the solar farms are located, the banker said.

Based on information from the Australian Energy Market Operator, it was planned to cut power from Wirsol’s solar farms by between 3% and 11% in the financial year ending in June 2023 because the grid was too busy.

Petronas already operates business in Australia because it has a stake in the Gladstone liquefied natural gas project (GLNG), which is run by Santos Ltd.

Info source – CNA