New renewable companies face a complex year after having revolutionized the Spanish energy board. The rising interest rates of the last twelve months have had a negative impact on these companies, which tend to work with high leverage. On the other hand, electricity prices have shown significant volatility due to weather conditions, which could discourage investors. Although this scenario also impacts large energy groups, it is the dozens of companies that have flourished in the last 20 years that are facing a stage of resistance towards maturity. Most of them maintain their investment plans.
The best reflection of this complex situation are listed companies. Solaria, one of the great leaders in the sector and which is part of the Ibex-35, has lost 40% so far this year. The poor stock market performance contrasts with very positive results, with a record profit of 107 million euros. The company promoted by the Díaz-Tejeiro family currently has an installed capacity of 2.7 GW (gigawatts) in solar generation and continues to invest to reach a capacity of 18 GW.
Acciona Energía, a subsidiary of the construction group led by José Manuel Entrecanales, has also left more than 26% on the stock market, although in this case the 2023 results were lower than the previous year. Grenergy (-28%), Soltec (-35%) or Ecoener (-16%) also registered falls. The exception is Opdernegy, which in recent months its price has been affected by a public acquisition offer (takeover bid) launched by the Antin fund and which concluded this week with almost 100% acceptance by shareholders.
Outside of the trading floor, there are several companies that have become leaders in the sector. This is the case of Forestalia, promoted by the Samper family, it has a capacity of 2 GW of photovoltaic, wind and biomass generation installations. The Aragonese company, which became one of the main winners of the electricity auctions organized by the Government (2016, 2017, 2021 and 2022), has projects with a capacity of 8 GW in its portfolio.
For its part, Capital Energy, led by Jesús Martín Buezas, maintains its investment plans this year despite the complexities of the environment. The Madrid company has a portfolio of wind and solar projects of more than 35 GW. X-Elio, owned by the Brookfield fund, is not intimidated by the situation either and has recently taken another step in its internationalization with its entry into Germany. Elawan, Eolia, Norvento and Greenalia, among others, have already announced new investments in the first quarter.
Another market to take into account is that of self-consumption. With prices skyrocketing in 2021 and 2022, dozens of companies with a model closer to that of the start-up jumped into this market to get their share of the pie from the large energy groups. These are companies such as SolarProfit, Holaluz, Greening, Alterna Energía, Enerside, EDiF, Energy Solar or Quantica.
This exponential growth has also had its cons. EiDF is trying to regain credibility after last summer the CNMV accused the company of not providing complete information to the market and of making “very relevant omissions.” A few months later, SolarProfit announced an ERE for 30% of the workforce, while HolaLuz announced 200 layoffs in November. The sector is readjusting.
In the field of marketing, small companies occupy a market share of around 10%, between the free market and the regulated market. After the setback suffered during the energy crisis, which involved the disappearance of several firms such as Aura Energía, Voltico or EnercoLuz, several companies have registered increases in new registrations in the data for the third quarter of 2023 offered by the CNMC. Among the main companies, Fenie Energía stands out (with a market share of 1.2%), the CHC Group (1%), Holaluz (0.7%), Factor Energía (0.6%) and Audax Renovables (0 ,5%).
