Italian wind specialist Falck renewables re-enters solar energy business

After expanding considerably in the wind energy sector in the first half of 2017 with a series of acquisitions in Norway, Netherlands and Sweden, the Italian renewable energy company Falck Renewables, a unit of the Falck Group, has now re-entered the solar energy business since it left the sector in the early stages of development of the Italian solar market.

The company’s unit Renewables IS42 LL has agreed to acquire a 92 MW PV power project located in North Carolina, U.S., from Chinese-Canadian solar module maker Canadian Solar Inc. The transaction is planned to be closed by the end of November.

The project, which is expected to start commercial operations by the end of this month, has a long-term PPA with U.S. power utility Duke Energy and is being financed by Prudential Capital Group and US Bancorp.

In April, Canadian Solar, which is constructing a 92 MW solar facility in Bladen and Cumberland counties near Fayetteville, N.C., announced it had secured $97 million to keep that project on track for commercial operation in the third quarter.

Falck Renewables has currently an installed capacity of 760 MW of wind energy in Italy, Spain, France and the U.K. Furthermore, the company owns and operates several PV plants with a combined capacity of 16 MW in Italy that were installed under the first two “Conto Energia” incentive programs, the latter of which expired in 2010. The company is also active in the PV business through its Spain-based unit Vector Cuatro, which it acquired in 2014.