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French energy group EDF has agreed to sell its 25.04% stake in the Swiss power utility Alpiq Holding for CHF489m (€436m) to the Swiss investors EOS Holding and Primeo Energie. Until now, EOS and Primeo Energie held respectively 31.4% and 13.7% of Alpiq and they will each acquire half of EDF’s stake, raising their stake in Alpiq to 43.9% and 26.2%, respectively. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to be completed by the end of June 2019. 

Alpiq currently operates 6,100 MW of capacity spread across Europe, mostly in Switzerland (3,456 MW), Spain (846 MW), Italy (715 MW), Czech Republic (593 MW), Hungary (403 MW), Bulgaria (73 MW) and France (14 MW). Over 44% of the company’s capacity consists in large-scale hydropower plants, while the remainder is spread among thermal power plants (38%), nuclear assets (12%) and small-scale hydropower, wind and solar PV (5.4%). In 2018, the group generated arond 15 TWh. In order to improve its financial situation, the group decided to merge its renewable and thermal power generation businesses in December 2018. As of January 2019, Alpiq is now split into three divisions: Generation Switzerland, Generation International and Digital & Commerce. This spin-off is slated to support the financial stabilisation of the company. However, the Generation Switzerland business division, which entails power generation from domestic hydropower and nuclear power, closed the year at a loss and down on the previous year.

Malaysian state-run energy giant Petronas currently plans to commission its second floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit by the first quarter of 2020, instead of July 2020 as previously planned.

The Lebanese government has unveiled five offshore blocks to be included in its coming bidding round for oil and gas exploration, four of which are located along disputed maritime borders. Indeed, blocks 8 and 10 both include waters also claimed by Israel, while blocks 1 and 2 include waters claimed by Syria.

The Ethiopian government has published a Request for Proposals (RFP) as part of its 250 MW scaling solar tender project and has required the 12 pre-qualified bidders to submit their final proposals before the end of June 2019.

A consortium led by Italian engineering and construction company Salini Impregilo has won a  AUD5.1bn (US$3.6bn) contract for the civil works and electromechanical component of the Snowy 2.0 expansion project, which will consist of a 2,000 MW pumped-storage hydropower plant at the existing 4,100 MW Snowy Scheme in New South Wales (south-east Australia).

A consortium of Japanese investors led by Sojitz Corporation and including Chugoku Electric Power, Chudenko, Shikoku Electric Power and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation has acquired a 27% interest in WPD’s 640 MW Yunlin offshore wind park in Taiwan, which is currently under development.

Chevron Canada and Australian gas company Woodside have submitted a license application to Canada’s National Energy Board for their Kitimat LNG project in northern British Columbia (Canada). Project developers have revised the gas liquefaction plant design, that may include up to three LNG trains rated 6 Mt/year each, instead of two 5 Mt/year LNG trains initially expected.