By Francesca Landini
MILAN (Reuters) -Enel finalised the sale of a renewable asset portfolio in the United States to Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) 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 (BIT:ENEI) 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, new CEO Flavio Cattaneo said in November that Enel 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 together with a U.S. partner.
At the time, Cattaneo said the group was evaluating the possibility of a partnership that would allow the potential new solar panel factory to benefit from the support of the Biden administration for energy transition ventures.
Under its previous CEO, Enel had said it would set up a solar cell and panel factory in Oklahoma near Tulsa to produce 3 gigawatts of solar products annually, with the first panels rolling off the line by the end of 2024.
($1 = 0.9135 euro)