Duke Energy chief sees 'robust market' as US giant mulls sale of $4bn wind and solar arm
Utility launches strategic review ahead of possible Commercial Renewables deal that would be among nation's largest so far
US utility giant Duke Energy is lining up a sale for its $4bn Commercial Renewables operation in what one analyst said could be among the largest such deals ever seen in American wind and solar.
Duke Energy announced a strategic review process for Commercial Renewables, which operates 5GW of wind and solar and has what the utility called “a robust development pipeline” in both technologies, as well as long-term power sale deals with “creditworthy counterparties”.
The unit is among the 10 largest renewable energy companies, according to Duke, which said it plans to concentrate on clean energy development in its huge regulated-market utility operations.
Duke CEO Lynn Good told financial analysts: “I believe there will be a robust market for these assets given that it's not only operating assets, but also a development pipeline, a platform, a team of very capable developers and operators who I think have the potential to add a great deal of value.
“If I focus just a moment on the pipeline, we have a gigawatt to a gigawatt and a half of near-term projects that could be quite valuable in 2024, 2025 in addition to what we had planned for 2023.”
Good added “there is an interest in these types of assets from a broad range of buyers” indicating that Duke could have more information after the review completes late this year or early next.
Duke said Commercial Renewables – which represents less than 5% of its revenues – has a book value of about $4bn, including $1bn of tax attributes. It would use the proceeds of any sale to repay debts.