The lead investor in Uganda’s oil sector, TotalEnergies announced that it has closed the acquisition of Norwegian energy firm SN Power, giving the French giant a 28.3 percent stake in the Bujagali hydroelectric plant, as well as interests in two projects under development in Rwanda and Malawi.

The acquisition of SN Power will enable TotalEnergies to implement its multi-energy strategy in Uganda, where the company has been actively involved in oil and gas exploration and production in the Albertine region, along with downstream operations.

Bujagali is a 250MW hydropower plant that currently provides about 25 percent of Uganda’s peak electricity demand. In 2016, SN Power acquired a portion of the stake held by American firm Sithe Global Power Llc in the project.

On February 28, Norwegian company Scatec – formerly majority owner of SN Power – completed the $167 million sale of its 51 percent interest in the Africa-focused hydropower developer to TotalEnergies. Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) and British International Investment are minority shareholders in SN Power.

This deal, along with two other acquisitions in Europe and North America, has been in progress since July of last year.“Following the agreements signed in 2024, TotalEnergies confirms the closing of its acquisitions of VSB Group, a European wind and solar developer with extensive operations in Germany, and SN Power, which develops hydropower in Africa, particularly Uganda,” the company announced on April 2.

With the completion of this acquisition, TotalEnergies portfolio of SN Power hydroelectric plants in Africa is expected to reach a total of 816MW. This includes 250MW already installed at Bujagali, with an additional 206MW from Ruzizi III in Rwanda and 360MW from Mpatamanga in Malawi yet to come online.

The company also announced new deals with renewables developer RES to acquire renewable projects in the Canadian province of Alberta, as well as the closing of its first project acquisition there.

Already having a significant presence in Africa’s energy sector, TotalEnergies signed a renewable energy deal with Rwanda in 2022, expanding its footprint to 14 countries on the continent, where the company is keen to deploy its multi-energy strategy, according to CEO Patrick Pouyanné.

In December 2023, a consortium of the European Development Fund (EDF), TotalEnergies, and Sumitomo Corporation announced that it was selected as a strategic partner for the development of Mozambique’s 1500MW Mphanda Nkuwa hydropower mega project.

Company executives believe that investments in renewables will help TotalEnergies leverage synergies with its oil exploration and production activities, meet global clean energy and climate goals, and contribute to the company’s 12 percent profitability target in the electricity segment.“The completion of these three acquisitions in Europe, North America and Africa will contribute to our targets of 35GW of gross renewable capacity by 2025 and over 100TWh of production by 2030,” said Stéphane Michel, president for gas, renewables and power at TotalEnergies.

As of the end of 2024, the company’s gross renewable electricity generation installed capacity had reached 26GW.

Critics argue that while TotalEnergies, along with BP and Shell, led the industry into the transition to clean energy five years ago, the French giant has invested less in renewable energy projects in Africa compared to Europe and the US.

While launching its upstream and midstream projects in Uganda in 2022, TotalEnergies also signed a memorandum of understanding with the country to produce liquefied petroleum gas and deploy large-scale renewable energy technologies to identify areas for commercial investment.

The company plans to explore solar, wind, and geothermal projects to generate energy for the national grid by 2030. Last year, its executives informed the shareholders that two solar projects of 40MW each in Tororo and Iganga, in Uganda, are planned for construction by the end of 2025.

They also indicated that the development of a 115MW solar power plant in Tanzania was in the pipeline, with construction planned before the end of this year, and an additional 100MW wind power plant in the country.“The total amount of investments planned in Uganda and Tanzania for the development and implementation of renewable energy projects in the next five years can thus reach up to $500 million,” officials told the company’s shareholders in May 2024.

This, they said, is to help address the growing demand for electricity to power industries, and rising calls for decarbonisation, making a case for investments in large renewable energy projects that can reach 500MW to 1GW of gross capacity installed in Uganda and Tanzania.

In 2021, TotalEnergies executive Nicolas Terraz stated that the company was recruiting renewables explorers in all African countries where it operates, to identify projects and expand its footprint on the continent.

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