ACS invested 440 million euros in the construction of renewable energy facilities last year, that is, almost double the amount allocated to the sector the previous year, which accounted to 248 million euros. “The Group has very favorable prospects in the renewable energy sector,” the company claims in its annual report.
This greater investment is due to the boom and reactivation of clean energy promotion plans and projects in several countries, including Spain. The company chaired by Florentino Pérez reinforces its commitment to this business sector while boosting the construction and exploitation of transport infrastructure sectors, after the purchase of Abertis in partnership with the Italian company Atlantia.
10,800 MW in the pipeline
The ACS Group has a project pipeline of 10,800 megawatts (MW) of power distributed in photovoltaic plants and wind farms, of which 2,000 MW are already under development or under construction with an associated investment of 1,600 million euros.
Wind farms are already under construction in Burgos and Palencia, and photovoltaic plants in Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Albacete and Cáceres for a total of 1,200 MW
Spain is one of the countries to which the company will allocate part of these projects, where it was also an awardee in the last auctions. In this sense, wind farms are already under construction in Burgos and Palencia, and photovoltaic plants in Zaragoza, Ciudad Real, Albacete and Cáceres, which overall account for 1,200 MW.
However ACS will build the majority of the facilities in its pipeline outside of Spain, specifically in Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and Taiwan, as stated in the company’s annual report. In fact, the company´s investment in renewable projects in 2018 was allocated to Spain, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Mexico and Peru, as well as to transmission lines in Brazil.
ACS faces the reactivation of its renewable projects through its subsidiary Cobra, specifically through the Bow Power brand
ACS faces this new stage of reactivation of its renewable projects through its subsidiary Cobra, specifically through the Bow Power brand, which it now controls following the acquisition of the 49% stake held by the US GIP fund, for 96 million dollars (about 85 million euros).
Bow Power
Bow Power is the company constituted by the construction and services group and the US fund when, in 2014, ACS decided to segregate its renewable assets integrating them into a firm that it named Saeta and listed it on the stock exchange market in 2015.
Under their covenant in Bow Power, ACS and GIP gave preference to Saeta for the acquisition of green energy facilities that they built and put up for sale.
However, in 2018, the two partners agreed to sell the 24.5% stakes they had in Saeta respectively to Brookfield, through the takeover bid that this Canadian fund launched on the clean energy facilities company.
This process, which led to the exclusion of Saeta from the stock exchange, also led to the termination of the agreement that this firm had with its ACS and GIP shareholders through Bow Power for the sale and acquisition of renewable assets.
