Acciona plans IPO, raises target for renewable business

Spanish energy and engineering group Acciona is planning to list its renewable subsidiary Acciona Energy this year as part of plans to add 9.3GW of new capacity by 2025, including a 1.8GW target for Spain.

Listing the business through an initial public offering (IPO) will enable the group to access lower cost of capital and maximise growth potential in renewables, as well as freeing up investment capacity in non-energy sectors such as infrastructure, water and property development, chief executive Jose Manuel Entrecanales said on 19 February.

At least 25pc of the spin-off company would be floated, with Acciona remaining the majority shareholder, the company announced.

Acciona Energy's installed capacity rose from 10.1GW in 2019 to almost 10.7GW last year, of which nearly 5.68GW is in Spain and 5.02GW in other countries. It previously planned to reach around 15GW by 2024 — of which approximately 25pc would be built in Spain — while the new plan is to take total capacity to 20GW by 2025.

Capacity in Spain would increase by 1.8GW over 2021-25, making almost 20pc of the global target. The expansion would be faster in the US and Australia, with targets of 2.7GW and 2.5GW respectively.

Acciona is adding 16MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Mallorca over the next two years that will power a green hydrogen facility in a joint venture with Spanish gas system operator Enagas.

The 48MW Celada 3 wind farm in the northeastern province of Castilla y Leon is expected to come on line by the end of this year, while the 125MW Extremadura solar PV project in the autonomous community of Extremadura and the 86MW Ayora solar PV project in Valencia would be connected in 2022.

Acciona won 128MW of peak solar PV capacity in Spain's renewable capacity auction last month at a weighted price of €25.40/MWh, higher than the average price of €24.74/MWh for the technology. It plans to bring one of the winning projects on line in 2022 — the 50MW Bolarque I — while the 57MW Escepar y Peralejo Hibridacion and 21MW Tarifa would become operational in 2023.

All winning solar PV projects must be on line by 30 September 2023, when their auction remuneration period starts, although companies can begin operating their plants earlier in the merchant market.

Acciona Energy's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) reached €831mn last year, down from €890mn in 2019. In Spain, ebitda in the generation business fell by 14.2pc year on year to €394mn, mainly as a result of lower sales and prices owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company's power generation in Spain dropped by 2pc to 12.48TWh last year.

By Juan Weik