Sonnedix agreed to buy four operating solar plants in northern Chile from Enel for $550 million. Three months later it closed a $624 million loan to pay for them. A buyer borrowing more than the purchase price usually means something else is riding in the same facility. Here it is, and so is a price well above the other operating solar prints Enerdatics records in Chile.
Key takeaways
- Enel signed an agreement on 12 July 2023 to sell a 416 MW operating solar portfolio in Chile to Sonnedix for an enterprise value of $550 million, about $1.32 million per MW. The deal completed on 25 October 2023.
- The portfolio comprises the 204 MW Domeyko plant in Antofagasta (operating since 2022), the 97 MW Carrera Pinto plant in Atacama (January 2016), the 79 MW Pampa Solar Norte plant in Antofagasta (April 2016) and the 36 MW Diego de Almagro plant in Atacama (December 2014).
- The four Enel solar plants generate about 1 TWh a year and sell their output to Enel Generacion Chile under long-term PPAs, including a 20-year agreement for Domeyko starting in 2022.
- In October 2023 Sonnedix closed a $624 million acquisition financing facility with BNP Paribas, SMBC and Societe Generale as joint lead arrangers, which also refinanced its 170 MW Atacama Solar plant.
- Enerdatics records 19 Chilean solar transactions between January 2022 and June 2024, of which six carry a disclosed value; the two other priced operating deals came in at $0.74 million and $0.77 million per MW.
Why is the loan bigger than the purchase price?
Because it pays for two things. The $624 million facility funds the acquisition of the 416 MWp portfolio from Enel Chile, and it also refinances Atacama Solar, a 170 MW plant Sonnedix already owned, which Leap's record identifies as its largest operating utility-scale project in Chile. Atacama Solar has its own long-term PPA with Enel Green Power.
Refinancing means replacing existing debt on an asset with new debt, usually on better terms or alongside new assets so the whole group is financed together. Folding Atacama Solar into the acquisition facility puts roughly 586 MW of Sonnedix's Chilean solar under one lending group in a single facility.
That is why a straight comparison of loan to price misleads. The $624 million does not imply Sonnedix borrowed more than 100 percent of the purchase price for the Enel plants. It implies a combined financing across old and new assets, with the split between them not disclosed in the record.
What did Sonnedix actually buy?
A holding company, not four separate plants. Two Sonnedix vehicles, Sonnedix Chile Arcadia and Sonnedix Chile Arcadia Generacion, agreed to acquire Arcadia Generacion Solar, the holding company of the solar assets. Before the sale it was owned 99.9 percent by Enel Chile and 0.1 percent by Enel.
The portfolio is younger than its oldest plant suggests. Diego de Almagro has been running since 2014 and two others since 2016, but Domeyko, which came online in 2022, accounts for 204 of the 416 MW. Enerdatics has calculated the weighted average operating life of the portfolio at 4.23 years at the time of the deal.
For Enel the sale had a clear purpose. The transaction was expected to reduce Enel Group's net debt by about $550 million and add about $21.7 million to reported net income for 2023. It was subject to approval from Chile's antitrust authority, the Fiscalia Nacional Economica, before completing in October 2023.
Who buys the power, and for how long?
The seller's own generation arm. All four plants sell their output to Enel Generacion Chile, formerly Endesa Chile, under long-term power purchase agreements. A power purchase agreement is a contract in which a buyer agrees to take a project's electricity at agreed terms for a set period.
Only Domeyko's term is confirmed in the record, at 20 years from 2022. Enerdatics estimates the PPAs for the other three plants to be 20 years as well, which gives a weighted average remaining contracted period of 15.64 years across the portfolio. That estimate is Enerdatics' own and should be read as such.
The structure cuts both ways. Sonnedix has bought plants whose revenue depends on a company in the same group as the seller. Enel keeps the offtake of a portfolio it no longer owns. Both sides end up tied together for more than a decade after the sale, which is a familiar shape when a utility sells plants that were built to supply its own generation business.
Enerdatics records 19 Chilean solar transactions between January 2022 and June 2024, and only six of them carry a disclosed value. Among operating assets, AES Andes paid $112.7 million for a 146 MWp park from EDF and Marubeni in June 2023, or $0.77 million per MW, and Copec agreed to pay $91.05 million for the 123 MW Granja plant from Solarpack in April 2024, or $0.74 million per MW. Sonnedix's $1.32 million per MW is 70 to 80 percent higher than both. The closest prints are in-construction deals: GIP's 49 percent of a 693 MW AES Andes portfolio for $441 million grosses up to $1.30 million per MW, and a 32.5 MW Grenergy portfolio sold for $44.2 million works out at $1.36 million per MW.
What does the deal signal for Chilean solar?
It signals that Chilean solar is priced on contract quality and asset age, not on megawatts. An operating plant with a young fleet and a long contract with a large utility buyer trades at a price closer to new-build assets than to older operating peers. The two operating comparables at under $0.80 million per MW show what happens to the same technology without that profile.
It also shows how few deals the market actually prices in public. Six priced transactions out of 19 across two and a half years is a thin base for anyone valuing a Chilean portfolio, and three of the six are development or construction deals. Each disclosed print carries more weight than it would in a deeper market.
For Sonnedix the deal fits a pattern of financing at portfolio level rather than plant by plant, the same logic behind Sonnedix's EUR 1.6 billion European refinancing. Its later move into Italian storage, covered in Enerdatics' analysis of the Tuscania battery deal, shows the same preference for contracted revenue in a different technology.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Sonnedix pay for Enel's Chilean solar portfolio?The transaction was for an enterprise value of $550 million, about EUR 504 million, for 416 MW of operating solar plants, equal to about $1.32 million per MW. It completed on 25 October 2023.
Why did Sonnedix borrow $624 million?The $624 million facility funded the acquisition of the Enel portfolio and also refinanced Sonnedix's existing 170 MW Atacama Solar plant in Chile. BNP Paribas, SMBC and Societe Generale were joint lead arrangers.
Who buys the power from the four plants?Enel Generacion Chile buys the output under long-term PPAs. Domeyko's agreement runs 20 years from 2022, and Enerdatics estimates the others are also 20 years, for a weighted average remaining term of 15.64 years.
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