Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petronas is finalizing its acquisition of German developer Wirsol's renewable assets and pipeline in Australia, according to sources involved in the transaction.
The sale price might be between A$900 million ($625 million) to A$1 billion ($705 million), one person involved in the talks said.
The potential deal comes as Petronas tries to create a renewables business through its subsidiary Gentari, which was formed last year, with the goal of having 30-40 GW of renewable energy capacity, primarily in solar, by 2030.
Representatives of Gentari and Wirsol did not respond to requests for comment.
Wirsol, which is owned by Wircon GmbH, listed its Australian renewables business for sale last year after dropping plans to publicly list the company.
The German firm runs solar farms and a battery across seven sites with a capacity of 746 MW, has a development pipeline of about 700 MW and manage 349 MW assets in Australia's eastern states, according to the company's web site.
A rough calculation by a banker familiar with Wirsol's earlier attempt to sell its Australian assets suggests the operating assets are worth roughly A$700 million.
The company has had difficulty selling its Australian solar farms previously due to issues with congestion in the grid where its solar farms are located, the banker said.
Data from the Australian Energy Market Operator shows it planned to curtail power from Wirsol's solar farms by between 3% and 11% in the financial year to June 2023 due to the grid congestion.
Petronas is already present in Australia with its investment in the Gladstone liquefied natural gas (GLNG) project, which is managed by Santos Ltd. (STO.AX).
