Inside the $0.67m per MW Enel Paid for Dominion's Solar Fleet

Enel has closed its purchase of seven operating solar plants in Virginia and the Carolinas for $180 million. Across 270 MW that is $0.67 million per MW, which would make it one of the cheapest operating solar portfolios to trade in the US since 2024. Two things about that number are worth knowing before anyone uses it as a comparable.

Key takeaways

• Enel Green Power North America has completed the acquisition of seven operating photovoltaic plants in the US totalling about 270 MWdc, with an average annual output of around 0.4 TWh. Enerdatics records an economic enterprise value of $180 million and completion on 1 October 2026.
• The $180 million splits into $140 million of cash consideration funded from operating cash flows and roughly $40 million of lease liabilities Enel must recognise as financial debt on consolidation under IFRS 16. On the cash alone the portfolio prices at $0.52 million per MW.
• The acquisition is expected to contribute $20 million a year to Enel's consolidated ordinary EBITDA, which puts the $180 million enterprise value at nine times EBITDA.
• Enerdatics records 65 operating US solar asset transactions since the start of 2024, of which 23 carry a disclosed value, at a median of $1.09 million per MW and a lower quartile of $0.81 million per MW.
• Enel named no seller, disclosing only that it was a US utility with assets in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Enerdatics identifies Dominion Energy as the probable seller, noting Dominion's March 2026 statement that it was looking to sell non-regulated solar generation inside its Contracted Energy segment.

What does $180 million actually buy here?

Seven plants, two of which carry most of the capacity. Virginia hosts two totalling over 120 MW, North Carolina one of more than 90 MW, and South Carolina four adding up to around 50 MW. Enerdatics identifies the likely assets as the 70 MWac Bedford and 60 MWac Pumpkinseed projects in Virginia, the 79.9 MWac Gutenberg project in Northampton County, North Carolina, and the Blackville, Ridgeland, Trask East and Yemassee projects in South Carolina at 7.2 MWac, 10 MWac, 12 MWac and 10 MWac. Those seven sum to 249.1 MWac against the 270 MWdc headline, and the oldest has been running since May 2017.

The offtake is where the portfolio gets its character. Bedford and Pumpkinseed supply Dominion Energy's Virginia customers. Blackville, Trask East and Yemassee hold long-term agreements with Dominion Energy South Carolina. Ridgeland sells to South Carolina Electric and Gas, which retains the renewable energy credits. Only Gutenberg sells to a corporate buyer, under a long-term agreement with Facebook. So six of the seven plants sell to the seller's own group or its predecessor company, and the buyer is inheriting a concentrated counterparty position along with the megawatts.

Why is $0.67 million per MW the wrong number to compare?

Because $40 million of it is an obligation Enel assumes rather than a payment it makes.

A lease liability under IFRS 16 is the present value of future lease payments, which an acquirer must bring onto its balance sheet as financial debt when it consolidates an asset. The land under these plants is leased, so consolidating them adds roughly $40 million of debt that was always there and never changed hands. The cash that moves is $140 million, funded from operating cash flow rather than new borrowing.

Divide the cash by the capacity and the portfolio prices at $0.52 million per MWdc, or $0.56 million against the 249.1 MWac Enerdatics identifies. Measured against the market the $0.67 million figure already looks cheap. The cash figure looks like a market low. Both readings are wrong, and for the same reason.

What does nine times EBITDA say that per-MW pricing does not?

That Enel paid almost exactly the same multiple it paid eight months earlier for a portfolio costing more than twice as much per MW.

In February 2026 Enel agreed to acquire 829 MW of operating US wind and solar from Excelsior Energy Capital, and Enerdatics records that deal at an enterprise value of $1.3 billion and 8.97 times EBITDA, which is $1.57 million per MW. This portfolio is $0.67 million per MW and nine times EBITDA. Same buyer, same market, same year, same multiple, and a per-MW figure 2.3 times apart. Enerdatics covered the Excelsior purchase when it was agreed.

Output per MW is what reconciles them. The Excelsior portfolio generates around 2.1 TWh a year from 829 MW, or 2.53 GWh per MW. This one generates around 0.4 TWh from 270 MW, or 1.48 GWh per MW. Excelsior was wind and solar together; this is solar alone in the southeast. A buyer pricing earnings will pay less per MW for plant that produces less per MW, and the gap between the two headline figures is a load-factor artefact rather than a discount.

Enerdatics records 65 operating US solar asset transactions since the start of 2024, and 23 of them carry a disclosed value. The median is $1.09 million per MW, the lower quartile $0.81 million, the upper quartile $1.33 million, and the full range runs from $0.24 million to $1.78 million. At $0.67 million per MW this deal sits below the lower quartile, and on the $140 million cash consideration alone, at $0.52 million per MW, it sits near the bottom of the priced set. Only three of those 23 transactions carry a disclosed EBITDA multiple, which is why per-MW remains the default comparison in this market even though it is the measure most sensitive to what the assets actually generate.

What does the deal signal for US operating solar?

It signals that regulated utilities are clearing non-regulated solar from their balance sheets and that strategics with spare operating cash flow are the buyers. Enel funded this from operations rather than new leverage, took no development risk, and enters Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina for the first time. Nothing about the transaction requires a view on interconnection queues or permitting, which is the point.

The seller's anonymity is itself part of the finding, and it should be carried forward rather than smoothed over. Enel said only that the counterparty was a US utility, and Enerdatics names Dominion on three observations: the asset geography, Dominion's regulated service territory across those same three states, and its March 2026 statement about selling non-regulated solar. That is an Enerdatics assessment, not a disclosure. What is not in doubt is the offtake concentration, and offtake descriptions repay reading closely: Enerdatics has covered a project described as fully contracted to Google where the contract covers the certificates and not the power.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Enel pay for the solar portfolio?Enerdatics records an economic enterprise value of $180 million, comprising $140 million of cash consideration funded from operating cash flows and roughly $40 million of lease liabilities recognised on consolidation. That is $0.52 million per MW on cash and $0.67 million per MW on enterprise value.

What is a lease liability under IFRS 16?It is the present value of a lessee's future lease payments, which the standard requires to be carried on the balance sheet and which is treated as financial debt. It raises reported enterprise value without any additional cash passing to the seller.

Was Dominion Energy confirmed as the seller?No. Enel disclosed only that the seller was a US utility. Enerdatics identifies Dominion Energy as the probable seller based on the asset locations, Dominion's service territory and its March 2026 statement about divesting non-regulated solar, and records that as its own assessment.

Enerdatics records the consideration, the lease treatment and the earnings contribution behind every US solar transaction, which is how a market low turns out to be a load factor. Browse more transaction analysis in the Enerdatics insights archive.