Finally the way is clear for Spanish natural gas and electric utility Naturgy to enter the US renewable energy market space with the acquisition of solar and energy storage development platform Hamel Renewables. With this 100% acquisition, Naturgy has secured access to Hamel's 8 GW solar together with 4.6 GW energy storage portfolio.
These projects of Hamel are spread across 9 US states with 25 of these representing 3.2 GW of solar and 2 GW of storage expected to come online before 2026.
On the occasion, Naturgy announced its plans to invest up to $1.8 billion in the US over the next 5 years to achieve 1.6 GW of solar energy capacity by 2025, and by 2030 it may develop up to 8 GW solar in the country. For this, it signed a 5-year agreement with solar and energy storage project developer Candela Renewables that will develop the projects exclusively for Naturgy.
"This transaction is a considerable step forward towards achieving our strategic objectives. In addition to this, we incorporate a portfolio of excellent projects in different stages of maturity, as well as a first-class team with a proven track record in the development of projects," said Naturgy's Executive Chairman Francisco Reynés.
Candela Renewables struck a similar utility scale solar PV capacity development deal with Macquarie's Green Investment Group for over 1 GW capacity back in July 2018 (see Macquarie Capital GIG Launched In North America).
In December 2020, Naturgy along with Enagas announced the 'largest' plant for green hydrogen production in Spain to produce 9,000 tons of renewable hydrogen with 400 MW solar PV capacity powering 60 MW electrolyzer (see 400 MW Solar For Spanish Green Hydrogen Plant).
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