In 2016, global acquisitions recorded a record for the third consecutive year, growing by 17% to USD 110 billion. Wind maintains its first position globally with transactions estimated at USD 62,3 billion (+10% on 2015), but is increasingly "undermined" by solar, which grew by 43% to USD 43,8 billion.
These are the main indications that emerge from the Agici Study on renewables in Italy and in Europe carried out by the International Observatory on the Industry and Finance of Renewables, coordinated by Prof. Andrea Gilardoni and Dr. Marco Carta. These indications were presented during the IX annual Workshop entitled Who sells and who buys renewable plants? Trends, prices and value creation which took place in Milan, at the Fondazione Cariplo Congress Centre. The event saw the participation of the leaders of the main players in the sector: Anne Petrarque (Enel Green Power), Paolo Merli (ERG), Enrico De Girolamo (CVA), Diego Percopo (EF Solare Italia), Diomidis Dorkofikis (Foresight Italy) , Gianluca Veneroni (EDP Renewables), Marco Merler (Dolomiti Energia), Massimo Meda (Falck Renewables), Stefano Bianchi (Fichtner). The works were closed by Agostino Re Rebaudengo, vice president of Elettricità Futura.
The United States with USD 29,2 billion (+14%) is the first area by value of acquisitions followed by Europe with USD 28,6 billion (+8%). 210 deals were monitored by the OIR Observatory in Italy and in Europe in the period 2015-2017. Among buyers, the component represented by financial subjects such as investment funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, pension funds, insurance companies and banks is growing. The primacy among the transactions analyzed by the OIR observatory in Italy and in Europe, in terms of volume and value, is held by wind power. The attention for photovoltaics throughout Europe and for hydroelectricity in Italy is also significant.
“The analyzes of the OIR Observatory highlight a strong growth in the acquisition of renewable plants in the world and also in Italy, where the value of the secondary market has now exceeded greenfield investments. Small-scale operators sell to monetize their investments, but also because they are often no longer able to manage their plants optimally in an increasingly competitive context”, commented Marco Carta, Director of the OIR Observatory. "The attractiveness of the secondary market is putting investment funds and utilities in competition," said Prof. Andrea Gilardoni, President of AGICI, “financial entities are undermining industrial operators as they have particularly low financing costs and seek lower profitability. However, it is not certain that the competition between utilities and investment funds will become even more heated. In fact, there is a growing number of alliances between these two categories of subjects”.
Attachments: Who sells and who buys renewable plants?
