French oil and gas major TotalEnergies has signed a US$2.2 billion joint venture (JV) with the Emirati state-run renewable energy developer Masdar to jointly develop renewables across Asia.
The 50-50 partnership will see the two firms merge their solar PV, battery energy storage and onshore wind development activities across nine Asian countries. Once finalised, the JV will be Masdar and TotalEnergies’ sole development vehicle for onshore renewables in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Uzbekistan.
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The firms bring a combined 3GW of operational assets and a further 6GW of development pipeline in the relevant countries, all of which they said is earmarked to be operational by 2030.
The new company will be headquartered at the Abu Dhabi Global Market, a financial centre in the UAE.
Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and chairman of Masdar, said: “The UAE has established itself as a global energy leader by delivering at scale, investing with conviction, and building partnerships that endure. Asia will be the main driver of global electricity demand growth this decade, and this collaboration with TotalEnergies will accelerate our progress across the continent.” Al Jaber also runs the national oil firm ADNOC.
This partnership brings together two of the biggest players in the renewables and fossil fuels industries, with massive financial backing. Masdar has significant development portfolios across Central Asia and the Middle East, having secured notable financial backing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for 300MW of solar PV and energy storage capacity in Uzbekistan in January, and for a 760MW Azerbaijan PV portfolio in 2024.
TotalEnergies also has significant investments in the region’s renewable energy infrastructure, alongside massive and long-running involvement in oil and gas extraction.
In 2023, it was the largest solar PV developer by cumulative capacity. However, analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said that a 2025 partnership with fossil fuel utility Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) risks increasing the company’s dependence on fossil fuels by massively expanding its investments in natural gas production.
Recently, the Trump administration announced it would pay TotalEnergies almost US$1 billion to abandon plans for offshore wind farms in the US.
