Masdar, the UAE's renewable energy company, is looking for more opportunities in the European green energy sector and will explore both minority investments and controlling stakes, its chief financial officer said following last week's deal with Spain's Endesa.

Masdar agreed Thursday to pay 817 million euros ($887 million) for a 49.99% stake in 48 solar plants controlled by Endesa -- a unit of Italy's Enel -- in Spain, with a total capacity of 2 gigawatts.

The investments needed to meet Europe's ambitious green targets, coupled with a "normalization" of asset prices, which had risen too high during the era of low interest rates, create great opportunities in the region, Mazin Khan told Reuters in an interview.

Masdar has invested in renewable projects around the world at various stages of development with a global capacity of around 20 GW and a value of more than $30 billion, and expects Europe to be a key contributor to reaching its target of 100 GW of capacity by 2030.

"Whether we do it with partners ... or with a majority stake, it will depend on the opportunity and the jurisdiction," Khan said, adding that buying a stake in a portfolio of assets like Endesa's was just a first step in scaling up investments.

"When we look at M&A opportunities, we don't just do it to add gigawatts to our portfolio..... We also put a lot of emphasis on future projects and how we are going to effectively use those acquisitions to further expand in the region," he said.

Masdar and Endesa also signed a memorandum of understanding to potentially develop an additional 3 GW of solar capacity, he said.

With high interest rates and rising debt costs affecting the European renewables sector, companies such as Iberdrola and Enel have become more cautious about new renewable projects and are willing to sell minority stakes in wind farms and solar plants to maximize profitability and rein in debt.

Last month, Masdar--controlled by the UAE's TAQA energy and water company, its national oil company ADNOC and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company--agreed to buy a majority stake in Greek renewable energy company Terna.

While Spain and Europe are key to Masdar's strategy, the company will explore suitable opportunities wherever they arise, including the United States, which is already an important market for the company, Khan said.

(US$1 = 0.9206 euros)

(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; editing by Andrei Khalip and Emelia Sithole-Matarise; Spanish editing by Javi West Larrañaga)