Northland and Endesa eye major Spanish wind and solar divestments: reports

Canadian energy company Northland Power has put its wind-dominated 600MW Spanish renewables portfolio up for sale, according to media reports that also suggested Enel's Endesa unit is close to a much bigger renewables divestment deal in the country.

These assets date back to the Canadian’s company's 2021 acquisition of assets manged by Helia Renovables, a renewables investment fund part-owned by Plenium Partners.

The divestment is being managed by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) with several non-binding offers submitted earlier this month, the report stated.

Northland Power has been contacted for comment.

Masdar mega-deal

A bigger deal that appears to be moving ahead involves a proposed alliance between Abu Dhabi’s renewables powerhouse Masdar and Endesa, the Spanish arm Italian renewables giant Enel.

The report, which cited financial market sources, suggested that a deal, worth a potential €2.4bn including debt, is close to conclusion.

Endesa's business plan shows that the company aims to increase its installed capacity of renewable power generation from 10GW in 2023 to 13.GW in 2026. Within this target, wind power capacity will rise from 2.9GW to 4.5GW and accounts for 53% of a 2024-26 capex budget of €4.3bn.

Acciona hits pause

On the other hand, Spanish renewables giant Acciona Energia has reportedly suspended a plan to divest 680MW of capacity from its own portfolio of wind and solar assets in Spain.

Heavy investments in Spain’s renewables sector and a lack of infrastructure to allow large scale exports of electricity to other regions of Europe has made the country susceptible to price troughs.

Other deals potentially on hold during the current trough are moves by Canada's Brookfield to sell €1.5bn worth of renewable assets owned by its company Saeta Yield and Plenium Partners’ designs of selling 422MW of assets.

Acciona declined to comment on the reported decision to pause the divestment process.