Enel buys wind stake in Greece

Rome-based Enel, Italy's largest electric utility, signed an agreement to take a 30 percent stake in a 1,400 megawatt pipeline of wind projects in Greece.

Enel made the deal with Greece's Damco Energy, part of the Copelouzos Group, and International Constructional, part of the Samaras group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Enel has the the right to progressively raise its stake up to 80 percent. The new wind projects are located in the most windy areas of Greece, mainly in Thrace, where Enel already operates 63 MW of wind, in Evia, where Enel has 16 MW, and in Peloponnesus.

"Enel aims at becoming an integrated energy company on the Greek market with a well diversified generation portfolio, applying the most advanced technologies to respect the environment," the company said in a statement.

The deal in Greece also includes an option for Enel to participate in the development of an additional 180 MW of wind in Bulgaria, in an area adjacent to Thrace.

Earlier this year, Enel announced plans to build a 0.5 MW fuel cell power plant with Italy's Ansaldo Fuel Cells (see Enel, Ansaldo to build demonstration fuel cell plant).

The plant will be built at Enel's research center in Livorna, Italy, and use an integrated trigeneration system with Ansaldo's molten carbonate fuel cells generation technology. Ansaldo is a unit of Finmeccanica, Italy's largest engineering and aerospace-defense group.

Enel currently generates 19,000 MW of power from hydro, wind, solar and geothermal, and plans to increase its renewable resources by 1,700 MW over the next five years.