Italy's Eni takes over photovoltaic specialist Solar-Konzept Greece

GREECE / ITALY. Italy's number one oil and gas company ENI (€43.98bn turnover in 2020) announced on Thursday 13 January 2022 that it had acquired the Greek company Solar-Konzept Greece (SKGR), which specialises in photovoltaic installations.

The acquisition was made from Solar-Konzept International (which also has subsidiaries in Italy and the Netherlands), which is majority owned by the German sustainable investment and asset development company Aquila Capital. It was made through Eni gaz e luce. Eni's gas and electricity subsidiary has been active in the Greek market since 2000 and operates 1.2 GW of renewable energy capacity and claims 500,000 customers.

In April 2021, Eni announced its intention to merge Eni gaz e luce's retail gas and electricity and renewable energy divisions to create another entity called Plenitude. The latter will float up to 30% of its capital in 2022 with the aim of developing more than 6 GM of new facilities by 2025 and more than 15 GW by 2030.

"This transaction marks Eni's entry into the Greek renewable power generation market and is part of its plan to expand renewable capacity, alongside vertically integrated activities in the retail electricity sector," said a statement from the Italian giant. "This transaction is part of the company's broader mission to become a leader in the production and sale of decarbonised products," it continued.

SKGR now has a development platform in Greece managing several projects totalling 800MW at various stages of development. "They form the basis for further development in the country," Eni said.