Spain's Elawan sets foot in Italy with 71.6-MW solar acquisition

Spanish renewables developer Elawan Energy SL has stepped on the Italian market by acquiring a 71.6-MW portfolio of solar projects under construction in the country’s southern region of Apulia.

The portfolio consists of two photovoltaic (PV) schemes with capacities of 20.4 MW and 51.2 MW, respectively, Elawan said on Thursday. The projects were sold by their developer, an unnamed company with which Elawan has signed a co-development agreement.

The solar farms are expected to start feeding electricity into the grid by 2025.

"This acquisition is an important step in our global expansion through a strategy of sustained growth and contributes to our purpose of offering integrated solutions that enable the decarbonization of energy systems around the world," said Pedro Garcia Crespo, CEO of Elawan Energy Investments.

Elawan is majority-owned by ORIX Corporation (TYO:8591). Last month, the Japanese financial services group struck an agreement to acquire a 20% stake it does not already own in the Madrid-based renewables developer and make it a wholly-owned subsidiary.

At present, Elawan has more than 1.3 GW of gross installed capacity and around 7.3 GW of projects under development and construction. Its goal is to have 2 GW of renewable power plants in operation in the first half of 2023 after completing ongoing projects in Spain, the US and Mexico.

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