UAE’s Masdar Spanish solar farm deal heralds more European investments

The UAE’s renewable energy company Masdar is seeking more opportunities in Europe’s green energy sector and will consider both minority investments and controlling stakes, its CFO said, following a deal last week with Spain’s Endesa.

Masdar on Thursday agreed to pay €817 million ($887 million) for a 49.99 percent stake in 48 solar plants controlled by Endesa — a unit of Italy’s Enel — in Spain, with an overall capacity of 2 gigawatt.

The investments needed to meet Europe’s ambitious green targets, coupled with a “normalization” of asset prices which had risen too high during the era of low interest rates, create big opportunities in the region, Mazin Khan told Reuters in an interview.

Masdar has invested in renewable projects around the world at different stages of development with an overall capacity of roughly 20 GW and a value of more than $30 billion. It expects Europe to be a key contributor to reaching its 100-GW capacity target by 2030.

“Whether we do that with partners… or with a majority stake, will depend on the opportunity and the jurisdiction,” he said, adding that buying a stake in a portfolio of assets like Endesa’s was just a first step to expand investments.

“When we look at M&A opportunities, we’re not solely looking at them to add gigawatts to our portfolio… We’re also putting a lot of emphasis on future pipelines and how we are effectively going to use those acquisitions to further expand within the region,” he said.

Masdar and Endesa also signed a memorandum of understanding to potentially develop an additional 3 GW of solar capacity, he said.

With high interest rates and rising debt costs hitting Europe’s renewable industry, utilities like Iberdrola and Enel have turned more cautious on new renewable projects and are happy to sell minority stakes in wind farms and solar plants to maximize returns and curb debt.

Last month, Masdar — which is controlled by UAE’s power and water firm TAQA, its National oil company ADNOC and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company — agreed to buy a majority stake in Greek renewable energy company Terna.

While Spain and Europe are key in Masdar’s strategy, the company will consider suitable opportunities wherever they arise, including the US, which is already a major market for the company, he said.