A shift to e-mobility and greater demand for renewable electricity from corporations should create more opportunities in a Joe Biden-led US for Enel Green Power (EGP), said the new CEO of the global development giant, as he hailed a record wind and solar build in 2020 despite the Covid pandemic.

Salvatore Bernabei said EGP, the renewables unit of Italy-based utility Enel, said the new US President’s green agenda is set to accelerate a shift to electrification and decarbonisation that had gathered momentum under the last three administrations thanks to efforts by US states.

“We very much welcome what Biden is trying to do, for example by rejoining the Paris Agreement,” Bernabei told a media briefing in response to a question from Recharge.

The new President’s backing for e-mobility and shift from fossil support, for example, could lead to greater demand for clean power, while commercial and industrial customers are likely to seek more renewable supplies.

“Electrificiation will accelerate, and obviously as we work in this business there will be opportunity not only for us but for everyone in this industry,” said Bernabei.

“Our plan [for the US] is already ambitious – but the outlook is more positive as there will be more opportunities.”

Enel Green Power is already one of the biggest players in US renewables, with about 6GW of owned and managed capacity as of Q3 2020. It expects to add about 1GW in the country in 2021, and the US accounted for most of the 1.39GW of new capacity it built in North America in 2020.

'Greatest challenge of our time'

That North American installation formed part of a 3.1GW global capacity build by Enel Green Power last year, a record for the company that exceeded 2019’s level by 2.5% despite the obstacles presented by the Covid pandemic – which Bernabei labelled “without doubt one of the greatest challenges of our time”.

Enel Green Power also installed 508MW, mostly in Spain, and 879MW in Latin America, dominated by Brazil, with Asia-Pacific and Africa accounting for just 333MW – although the latter are tipped to grow in importance for Enel over the next few years.

The 2020 additions were dominated by wind, with turbines accounting for almost 2.3GW. EGP almost refurbished and repowered about 1.2GW of mostly hydro capacity.

Last year’s new capacity brought the global total under Enel Green Power’s wing to around 49GW, as the company positions itself as a “renewables supermajor” and the world’s largest private operator of clean energy plants. The company wants to grow to 145GW by 2030.

Hybridised future

This year it expects to add about 700MW in Spain with further growth in Brazil and Chile, alongside the gigawatt or so in the US, said the EGP boss.

Bernabei, who was previously Enel’s head of global procurement and earlier ran its renewables operation in Latin America, said EGP was “in a good position to shape the generation of the future”, which he said would grow in “highly-hybridised” power systems alongside storage and networks.

He said integrating the different elements, and coming up with market designs fit for the future not the past, would be among the biggest challenges of the energy transition.

Energy Transition

New Enel Green Power chief hails Biden 'opportunities' after record 2020 build despite Covid