Hydroelectricity, foreign groups in the field for concessions

Widespread interest, at various latitudes, in the hydroelectric dossier in Lombardy. On 18 October, the deadline for applications for the first two (small) expired concessions put out to tender by the region closes: Codera Ratti-Dongo, 19 MW (currently managed by Edison), and Resio, 4 MW (A2A). In recent months, the industry associations have received many requests for information from various parts of the world and from various types of interlocutors, from operators to investment funds: 'I am very concerned,' says Paolo Taglioli, director general of Assoidroelettrica: 'Our hydroelectric assets are strategic, they serve to guarantee energy at a regulated price to a country like ours, which is increasingly energy-intensive and forced to import it. They serve our industry. Not to mention the crucial nature of water management in times of climate change. Notices have been written without identifying clear criteria and compensation, especially for small derivations, and without reciprocity between states. Selling off our power plants could have irreparable consequences: we must renegotiate with Europe to block this mechanism'.

According to market sources, the Czechs at Eph are studying the dossier. The group operates in Italy as Ep Produzione, the national subsidiary of the holding company founded in 2009 by Daniel Kretinsky, with six 4.4 GW thermoelectric power plants, five gas-fired and one coal-fired, holdings in the biomass sector, and revenues in 2023 of around EUR 2 billion. Kretinsky's interests go far beyond energy, from Sparta Prague to Le Monde, from Foot Locker to Metro to Thyssenkrupp Steel. Since the Lombard tenders, as a condition of participation, require operators to have proven experience in the management of hydroelectric plants, the key, in the Eph galaxy, could be represented by the investee Slovenské Elektrárne, a 34% subsidiary of the Slovak Ministry of the Economy (in which the Enel group also has a minority stake) which manages 31 hydroelectric, two nuclear, two thermoelectric and two photovoltaic plants.

Then there is a Swiss track, as also emerges from the responses published by the Lombardy region to requests for clarification on calls for tenders (as of 2 October a total of 36 for Codera Ratti-Donghi and 59 for Resio), which could point to Bkw, 50 hydroelectric plants in the confederation and in Italy for 1.7 GW. Market observers also bring into the discussion the Australian group Macquarie, which just exited Hydro Dolomiti Energia in September.

At the moment, the disputes of Elettricità Futura, A2A, and Edison are pending on the tenders: "One of the main elements that we have contested in the appeals presented to the High Court of Public Waters and also to an Arbitration Board is the failure to recognise the fair value of the dry works, i.e. the price to be paid to the outgoing concessionaire for the private assets it owns," explains Marco Stangalino, director of Edison's electricity production. "The appraisal value, but also the value contained in the company's accounting books, is 20 times higher than the regional estimates, with an extremely significant and unreasonably penalising difference given that these are assets that are constitutionally guaranteed," he continues: "The Lombardy Region has, surprisingly, launched the tender for the assignment of the concessions by unilaterally defining the value of the dry works without any contradiction, without even waiting for the conclusion of the arbitration procedures initiated precisely to have the price of these works ascertained by a 'third party'. As a result, the tender will be held with a very significant economic flaw, leading to confusion and erroneous evaluations among the participants who will have to present economic and financial plans in a context of absolute uncertainty until the conclusion of the disputes".

If, in the end, a value other than that indicated in the calls for tenders is recognised (1.5 million for Codera Ratti-Donghi and around 320,000 for Resio), the procedure for a 'financial rebalancing' of the pia