Direct Energie Buys Enel's Belgian Plant

French energy marketer Direct Energie announced late September 28 the signing of a sale and purchase agreement to buy Marcinelle Energie from Italian power giant Enel. Marcinelle owns a 400 MW combined cycle gas-fired power plant at Charleroi in southern Belgium built in 2012. Direct Energie said the deal, which is pending Belgian government approval, could be completed by end-2016 and would double its overall generation capacity to 800 MW and “confirm [its] ambitions in the Belgian market.” 

Neither Enel nor Direct Energie disclosed the value of the transaction, but Enel said it is part of its rolling €6bn programme of non-core asset disposals, of which agreements have now been reached on some €4.1bn.

Gazprom three years ago signed a deal with Enel relating to the possible acquisition of Marcinelle but did not follow through with the deal.

The 400 MW gas-fired Marcinelle CCGT in Belgium (Photo credit: Gazprom)

Direct Energie, France's third largest French electricity and gas supplier, also said September 28 it more than doubled its 1H 2016 net profit to €52.4mn, from €23.2m in 1H 2015. The company, which also trades as Poweo, expects to attain 2mn customer sites – residential and industrial – by the end of 2016; at end-June it had 1.82mn in France alone. Engie and EDF remain the dominant gas and power suppliers to final customers in France.

Mark Smedley