EDP to invest US$1.6b a year, retain core market focus

[LONDON] Energias de Portugal SA will invest US$1.6 billion a year to 2020 with a focus on onshore wind energy in its core markets.

The Lisbon-based utility plans to increase its installed capacity by 20 per cent to almost 30 gigawatts by 2020, it said in its capital markets day presentation. The share of renewables is expected to rise to 76 per cent by the end of the decade from 71 per cent in 2015.

EDP Renovaveis SA, its clean energy arm, said it will invest US$5.49 billion from 2016 to 2020 in the US, Europe, Brazil and Mexico. It will add 700 megawatts of installations per year, which will be funded through the company's cash flow and asset sales.

"We don't have the need to go to strange places," said Chief Executive Officer Joao Manso Neto in a presentation in London. "Our core markets have strength and we will concentrate there." EDPR plans to focus on onshore wind, but also expand its solar photovoltaic plants to make up about 10 per cent of its capacity additions and offshore wind that would make up less than 10 per cent.

BLOOMBERG