UK-headquarted Octopus Renewables has sold 173MW of Italian solar to utility A2A.
The portfolio of 17 PV plants is the largest merchant portfolio in Italy without GSE incentives, according to A2A, with the cash consideration paid reaching €205 million (US$248 million) correspondent to an equity IRR of around 6%.
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Nine of the plants are located in the Lazio region and eight in Sardinia. They add to the 111MW already owned by A2A, which said that the plants have the possibility of supporting technologies such as storage and hydrogen “in the near future”.
Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of A2A, said this acquisition consolidates A2A’s position as “the second largest operator in renewables by installed capacity in Italy” as well as increasing the amount of green energy available to its customers, with 33% of energy produced now coming from renewable sources.
Octopus Renewables powered up a 70MW portfolio of solar on the island of Sardinia in 2019, with these plants using BYD solar PV panels and SMA’s inverters and being built by Italian EPC contractor Comal Impianti. Of this 70MW, oil major Shell is to offtake 30MW while DXT Commodities is offtaking the remaining 40MW.
In 2017, it completed a 63MW portfolio of five plants in the Lazio Region, with this also backed by DXT Commodities as the PPA offtaker.
A2A, meanwhile, announced in 2019 it had signed a deal to take over a 1GW solar pipeline from Chinese PV manufacturer Talesun.