TotalEnergies acquires German VSB for 1,57 billion euros

Based in Dresden, the VSB group has developed more than 2 gigawatts of capacity on its onshore wind farms in Europe, TotalEnergies indicated in a press release, which hopes, through this acquisition, to "strengthen (its) integrated electricity value chain in Germany".

"TotalEnergies' ambitious target of 100 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, combined with VSB's ability to deliver over 5 gigawatts of generation and storage assets in the coming years in Europe alone, is a giant step towards realizing these ambitions," commented VSB Group CEO Felix Grolman, quoted in a press release.

The agreement was signed with Swiss asset manager Partners Group, which has held a majority stake in VSB Group since 2020.

Founded in 1996, the VSB Group has 21 sites in Germany, France, Poland, Finland, Italy and Croatia and employs 500 people, the company said.

The completion of the transaction remains subject to approval by the competition authorities, VSB Group said.

TotalEnergies also announced on Wednesday that it had signed an agreement with an investment fund for the sale of 50% of a 2-gigawatt portfolio of solar projects and battery electricity storage systems in Texas. This transaction should bring in $800 million in cash to TotalEnergies, the group hopes.

Presenting itself as the "largest French investor in renewable energies", TotalEnergies had a total of 2023 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity in 22,4, slightly above its target, and is aiming for 100 gigawatts in 2030.

As in 2023, TotalEnergies plans to have allocated a third of its total investments to what it calls "low-carbon energies" by 2024, including around 5 billion dollars in its "electricity" branch.

This brings together wind power, solar power, electricity storage by batteries, but also its gas-fired thermal power plants (thus based on fossil energy), which TotalEnergies presents as an essential link in the renewable energy chain. to compensate for their intermittency.