Enel North America said it launched a retail energy business in Texas with a focus on commercial and industrial customers.
The venture aims to enable customers to buy renewable energy directly from Enel’s generation assets without having to make a long-term financial commitment through a more conventional power purchase agreement (PPA).
Enel said it has more than 4 GW of renewable projects in operation or under construction in Texas. The company plans to expand its retail offering to Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania in 2023.
In a report on C&I market trends, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said that third-party ownership of solar assets remains popular despite lending practices that have improved in recent years. It said that increased underwriting costs often make commercial loan offerings less attractive than in the residential sector. It also said that many C&I customers prefer to account for their electricity expense as an operating cost and not as a capital cost.
Even so, SEIA reported that customer-owned solar systems have grown in market share from 52% in 2019 to 68% through the first half of 2022. It said that financiers have become more comfortable with the commercial solar space and that declining system costs have reduced the amount of capital expense associated with system ownership.
Earlier this year, Enel announced the additions of Enel X Way, a new business line dedicated to electric mobility, and Gridspertise, a grid modernization subsidiary. Earlier in November, Enel announced plans to open a large-scale PV solar panel and cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. It said the expansions are part of a larger growth strategy as Enel looks to capitalize on opportunities and incentives offered in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Enel told investors in late November that it plans to invest around $5 billion in the North American market, with the aim to develop roughly 5 GW of new utility-scale renewable and battery energy storage capacity through 2025. It also outlined plans to add 155 MW of distributed energy storage, 37 MW of demand response, and 475,000 electric vehicle charging ports by 2025.
