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Italian energy group Enel, through its affiliate Enel Green Power, has divested an 80% stake in a Mexican renewable power portfolio with a total capacity of 1.8 GW to the Canadian investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and an investment vehicle of CKD Infraestructura México (CKD IM). The 100% stake is estimated at US$2.6bn, of which US$300m in equity, US$800m of project financing and US$1.5bn of related party loans.

The transaction comprises Enel’s interest in eight special purposes vehicles (SPVs), of which three wind plants (429 MW) are already in full operation, three solar parks have been recently connected (namely the 469 MW Villanueva I, 359 MW Villanueva III and 260 MW Don José solar parks, totalling 1,089 MW, connected to the Mexican grid at the end of September 2018), and two wind projects are still under construction (a total of 300 MW). The portfolio comprises 700 MW of wind power generation capacity: the 198 MW Amistad, 200 MW Dominica, 129 MW Palo Alto, 103 MW Salitrillos and 100 MW Vientos del Altiplano parks.

All these facilities hold long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). After the closing, Enel will retain a 20% interest in the facilities and will continue to operate the plants already in operation and those under construction under the framework of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

In Mexico, Enel will retain direct control of about 300 MW of operational capacity, namely the wind plants of Stipa Nayaa (74 MW), Zopiloapan (70 MW) and Sureste (102 MW), and the hydropower plants of El Gallo (30 MW), Chilatan (14 MW) and Trojes (9 MW), as well as the 134 kW solar plant COP 16.

French energy group Engie has brought forward the date of the overhaul operations for its Tihange-1 nuclear reactor in Belgium by one week to save time and avoid a possible blackout in November in case of challenging meteorological conditions.

The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) has awarded four offshore blocks under the framework of the 5th Production Sharing Round (5ª Rodada de Licitações de Partilha da Produção)). The blocks will be operated under the production-sharing regime, according to which winning companies are those which offer the Brazilian State,…

Swedish electricity company Vattenfall has officially entered the French residential electricity and gas market and will start supplying households. The company is already present on the French retail electricity market since 2000 (supply to businesses) and on the French retail gas market since 2014.

The Indian government has raised the domestic gas price by 10% to US$3.36/MMBtu under the framework of a pricing formula implemented in October 2014. The price hike began on 1 October 2018 and will last for a 6-month period.

The fourth unit of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Lianyungang, in China’s Jiangsu province, has reached first criticality and is now scheduled to begin generating electricity by the end of 2018 and enter commercial operation in March 2019. Once built, the unit will have a total net capacity of 990 MW.

According to the state-held nuclear company Rosatom, the Rostov-4 VVER nuclear reactor located near Volgodonsk in Russia has entered the commercial operation phase three months ahead of schedule. The Russian regulator Rostechnadzor issued the required permit in January 2018 and the unit was connected to the domestic grid in February 2018,…