Enel has agreed to pay the Italian renewable energy business ERG $1.19 billion for hydroelectric assets. It announced the acquisition of a 527 MW portfolio of assets from ERG, generating an average of 1.5 terrawatt hours of power per year.
The transaction is likely to close at the beginning of next year. Enel stated that the deal would be funded through cash flow and current debt lines. Currently, Enel is Italy’s largest hydropower provider with almost 12.5 GW of capacity. It is also one of the world’s largest green energy companies, and it has committed to spend 160 billion euros over the next ten years to achieve carbon-free operations by 2050.
Enel announced a payment of 1.039 billion euros, giving the assets a total enterprise value of 1 billion euros, including debt. ERG, one of Europe’s major wind power providers, is selling these hydropower assets, as well as certain gas-fired power facilities, in order to accelerate the process of becoming a pure wind and solar player. The company pledged in May 2021 to spend 2.1 billion euros over the next five years to assist in the addition of 1.5 GW of renewable energy in Italy and overseas.