French and Japanese energy giants TotalEnergies and ENEOS have established a JV to develop “onsite B2B solar distributed generation” in several Asian countries over the next five years. The signing of the JV agreement was announced on April 13.
The partnership leverages the B2B expertise and global presence of TotalEnergies and the renewable energy expertise and brand recognition of ENEOS. The newly formed 50/50 JV will assist ENEOS in providing economical distributed generation solutions for enterprises in Japan. At the same time, it will also enhance the competitiveness of TotalEnergies and ENEOS in the wider Asian market for energy-related products and services.
Both TotalEnergies and ENEOS are already major players in the oil and gas sector. However, both are also making efforts to incorporate more renewables into their portfolios. According to the official press release about the JV agreement, the gross renewable generation capacity of TotalEnergies surpassed 10GW at the end of 2021. The company aims to reach 35GW by 2025 and has secured PPAs to provide renewable electricity to major global enterprises such as Amazon.
Regarding the locations of the distributed generation projects that will be set up by the new JV, the press release mentioned Japan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
As for ENEOS, the press release stated that it currently operates 22 PV power plants in Japan and is developing renewable energy projects in other countries such as the US, Australia, and Vietnam. Besides solar PV, ENEOS is also entering into other renewable energy sectors including wind power, hydropower, and biomass. ENEOS pointed out that the agreement with TotalEnergies represents its first overseas distributed generation venture. Going forward, ENEOS will be relying on next-generation energy technologies and community services as its growth drivers.
Commenting on this agreement, Vincent Stoquart, senior VP of the renewable division of TotalEnergies, said that the partnership with ENEOS is a further demonstration of its commitment to the Asian market, which is also crucial in helping his company reach the target of 100GW for renewable generation capacity by 2030. Katsuki Arisa, senior VP of ENEOS and president and CEO of the company’s subsidiary Resources & Power Company, said that TotalEnergies has the advantage of operating at a global scale and is thus a valuable ally in the expansion of the renewable energy business in Asia.
Other renewable energy news outlets have reported that TotalEnergies has been making acquisitions to strengthen its distributed generation business. Earlier in February this year, TotalEnergies announced that it purchased the “commercial and industrial solutions business” of SunPower for USD 250 million (including USD 60 million of earn-out). TotalEnergies is a majority shareholder of SunPower, and this deal is expected to enhance its efforts in developing 500MW of distributed generation projects around the world.
Turning to ENEOS, it formally entered the renewable energy market in October last year by acquiring Japan Renewable Energy (JRE) from its owners Goldman Sachs and GIC for around USD 1.8 billion. JRE is involved in solar PV, wind power, and biomass. It handles development, operation, and maintenance of generation assets and embeds itself into the related supply chains. For the development of offshore wind farms, JRE is able to formulate construction schedules, conduct site surveys, and monitor wind conditions. According to the reporting by news outlets at the time, JRE owned 419MW of generation capacity and was developing another 410MW.