The Dutch energy provider Eneco announced it has agreed to acquire the Belgian electric utility Eni Belgique, formerly known as Nuon, from Italian oil and gas company Eni. Through this acquisition, Eneco said, it has significantly increased its market share in the Belgian power sector. The Dutch company has been present in this market through its unit Eneco Belgium since 2011.
Eneco added that, once the acquisition is completed, it will serve over 1 million residential clients and approximately 55,000 commercial and industrial customers in the country. The financial terms of the transaction were not revealed. The deal includes the sale of three wind power plants.
The company’s new Belgian unit will primarily invest in new local power generation projects, especially in wind and solar. Eneco specified that it is now carefully examining how the building blocks of both companies can best be fitted together. In the long run, the company added, the brand name for Eni customers will become Eneco.
“Since it began operating on the Belgian market in August 2011,” the company said in its press release, “Eneco has always conducted a sustainable strategy. In 2016, the company succeeded as a genuinely green provider in generating all of its energy for domestic customers using Belgian wind and solar energy.”
According to Eneco, Eni Belgium has provided smart home services that enable consumers to save on their energy bills. In addition to this service, Eneco will provide services relating to insulation, solar panels, energy storage using home systems, electric charging stations, as well as customer participation projects.
In late March, Eneco announced that more than 100 MW of PV installations were connected to its network in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. The company also claims it is currently Belgium’s largest solar power producer with over 60 MW of grid-connected PV systems.
Eni had acquired Nuon from Swedish utility Vattenfall for €157 million ($167.5 million) in July 2011.
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