SEOUL -- Hanwha Q Cells, a renewable energy wing of South Korea's Hanwha Group, secured a springboard for its entry into the wind power market by acquiring the French pipeline of energy projects from Britain's renewable energy company, RES, as demand for green energy grows thanks to concern about climate change and tightened regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
Hanwha Solutions said in a regulatory filing on August 9 that its subsidiary, Hanwha Q Cells, would take over 100 percent of RES Mediterranee, which operates energy projects with a combined production target of five gigawatts, for 727 million euros ($855 million) to expand its renewable energy development business in Europe.
The deal was endorsed at a temporary board meeting, Hanwha Solutions said, adding the acquisition of RES' green energy pipeline and development and construction management division in France would be completed by October.
The acquisition would help Hanwha Q Cells' renewable energy business rights worldwide from ten gigawatts to 15 gigawatts worldwide. The company would use France as a base for targeting European markets. "We will continue to become a global eco-friendly energy company through bold investments in climate change response technologies and companies," Hanwha Q Cells CEO Kim Hee-cheol was quoted as saying.