MILAN (Reuters) – Enel finalised the sale of a renewable asset portfolio in the United States to Ormat Technologies for $271 million, Italy’s biggest utility said on Thursday.
The deal, announced last year, is part of the group’s efforts to trim its debt and streamline its presence abroad.
Under the agreement, Enel is divesting its entire geothermal portfolio in the United States along with a number of small solar plants, for a total capacity of 150 megawatts (MW).
The move is expected to have a positive effect worth about 250 million euros ($274 million) on Enel’s consolidated net debt but negatively impact, by around 30 million euros, the group’s reported net income, the group said in a statement.
It will not have any impact on the utility’s ordinary economic results, it added.
Enel’s renewable consolidated capacity after the deal amounts to around 9.7 gigawatts (GW) in North America.
Presenting the updated strategy for the group, Enel’s new CEO Flavio Cattaneo said in November that the renewable developer would drop a plan to develop an extensive network of electric car charging points while it would press on with the idea of building a solar panel factory in the United States.
($1 = 0.9135 euro)
(Reporting by Francesca Landini)
