Shell, a British oil and gas company, has been preparing binding bids to acquire Q-Energy’s energy assets in Spain, which are worth €1 billion in total. Reportedly, in addition to Shell, Naturgy and Austrian electricity provider Verbund are also preparing offers for the portfolio. Q-Energy, a Spanish fund manager, is selling the solar assets to take advantage of rising demand from European energy companies seeking to meet various government’s climate change goals. The assets for sale are solar projects in a variety of locations, including central Spain’s Guadalajara region and Andalucia’s southern coastline region.
The solar assets in the transaction have a capacity of approximately 75 MW and are covered under an old subsidy system that ensures core earnings of about €60 million per year. Reportedly, the portfolio also includes projects that are presently under development and have the potential to generate about 3.6GW of clean electricity once completed. It is estimated that more than half of the solar assets have received grid connection permits. The bid submission deadline is due by the end of April 2022. The winning bidder is expected to have a team of 25 members on these projects.
In December 2021, Shell New Energies, a subsidiary of Shell, purchased Savion, a utility-scale solar and energy storage developer in the United States, from Macquarie’s Green Investment Group for a 100 per cent interest. With over 100 projects in construction in 26 states, Savion has a pipeline of more than 18 GW of solar and energy storage projects. The acquisition was completed on December 17, 2021.
REGlobal’s Views: Mergers and acquisitions continues to be a major trend in the global renewable energy space as solar and wind projects fetch good price in the market, and large companies are keen to expand their portfolios through organic as well as inorganic routes.
