French oil and gas company Total has agreed to acquire 50% stake in Adani Group’s solar assets for $500m as part of its strategy to develop renewable energies.

Both the companies will form a 50:50 joint venture (JV), where Adani Green Energy (AGEL) will transfer its 2GW solar assets to the JV.

The solar projects are spread over 11 Indian states and all the projects has already signed a 25-year power purchase agreements (PPA) with national and regional electricity distributors.

Total chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “Total is fully engaged in the energy transition and to supporting India, a key country in the fight against climate change, in diversifying its energy mix through partnerships in natural gas and now in solar energy.

“This interest in over 2 GW of solar projects represents another big step of our investment in India’s energy sector. It will support our ambition to contribute to the deployment of 25 GW of renewable capacities by 2025.

“We are thrilled to extend the partnership with the Adani Group to renewable energies, which will allow us to benefit from its in-depth knowledge of the Indian electricity market.”

AGEL currently holds 2,148MW of solar power projects

According to Total, the Indian government has a policy to support renewable energy growth and the country is committed to increase the capacity from its 81GW in 2019 to 225GW by 2022.

Currently, AGEL holds 2,148MW of solar power projects and 172MW of installed capacity of wind power projects in India.

The firm also has 475MW of solar projects, 1,505MW of wind projects and 990MW of hybrid projects, which are under construction.

In October last year, Total agreed to acquire a 37.4% stake in Indian natural gas distribution company Adani Gas to create one of the largest integrated gas utilities in India.

The 50:50 partnership between the two firms includes various assets in the gas value chain, especially the Dhamra LNG terminal on the east coast of India and potentially the Mundra LNG Terminal on the west coast.