Italy-based energy company Enel has announced plans to expand its power distribution business into the US market. The company plans to invest €16.2bn ($19.52bn) in distribution networks over the next two years, and €60bn ($72.23bn) by 2030.
The majority of its investment will be made on strengthening its grids and improving digital flexibility to manage increasing volumes of renewable energy. Enel currently manages power distribution grids across eight Latin American countries and across Europe, with more than 74 million clients.
Enel Global Infrastructure and Networks CEO Antonio Cammisecra said: “In the US, we are currently in generation, but we would like to enter one day into distribution. To identify potential targets, Europe and Latin America are on the radar screen, but we are also looking at other geographical areas.”
Enel reportedly plans to create a new company to offer services and digital infrastructure devices for managing grids. The new business unit is expected to become operational by the end of this year.
In November, the company stated that it was planning to increase its renewable energy capacity to 120GW by 2030, as part of its strategic vision for the decade.
This target would be 2.7 times higher than the company’s current installed capacity of around 45GW. In another development, Renewable Energy Systems’ (RES) 492MW Maverick Creek wind project in the US has entered its commercial operations phase.
Located in Concho County, Texas, the facility features 127 wind turbines capable of generating enough clean energy to power 200,000 homes each year. The project was originally developed by RES together with Vestas’ North American development arm, Steelhead Americas. In August 2019, RES announced a joint agreement with Algonquin Power and Utilities for the project development.
