French utility EDF’s sale of renewable power portfolio in the UK with a generation capacity of about 600 MW has been put on hold, sources familiar with the transaction told Infralogic.

EDF Renewables, which was seeking to sell about 49% in the portfolio, put the process on hold late last month amid a lower valuation on the portfolio pegged by potential buyers, sources said, adding that the seller was not ready to take a hit on the capital expenditure made on the portfolio.

They did not disclose the details on valuation or if and when the sale could come back to the market.

EDF appointed RBC to advise on the sale process and started sounding out potential investors this April.

EDF declined to comment while RBC did not respond to requests for comment on the article.

The assets on the block include a mix of operational and under-construction projects mostly including solar power and battery storage facilities, plus smaller onshore wind assets, this news service reported earlier.

In the UK, EDF owns three operational solar farms with a capacity of 17 MW and close to 100 MW under construction, according to the company’s website. It is also developing a further six solar power projects with close to 700 MW of capacity that have received planning consent.

EDF’s operational onshore wind capacity is more than 600 MW spread across the UK in England, Scotland and Wales and the projects range in capacity from over 5 MW to the largest being the 177 MW Dorenell wind farm.

EDF owns four battery storage projects with a generation capacity of 200 MW in operation and more in the development phase.

The French company’s battery storage portfolio also includes Pivot Power, a UK-based specialist in battery storage and infrastructure for electric vehicle charging which EDF acquired in 2019. Pivot or its assets were not part of the sale process.

EDF Renewables has been selling several clean energy assets over the past years. It was expected to step up asset sales to deal with its EUR 64.5bn net debt pile, particularly after booking a EUR 23bn EBITDA loss in its domestic power generation unit in 2022. The net debt reduced to EUR 54.4bn end of last year and was further down to EUR 54.2bn in the first half of this year.

This February, EDF Renewables sold a 118 MW UK portfolio of three Scottish wind farms to Malaysian utility Tenaga Nasional’s UK subsidiary Vantage RE. The assets included the 25.8 MW Camilty project in West Lothian, the 25.3 MW Shelloch project in Fintry, Stirlingshire and Troston and a 67.2 MW project in Dumfries and Galloway.

EDF has also sold stakes in other operational onshore wind farms globally in the past. In the UK it sold a 49% stake in a 550 MW portfolio to Dalmore Capital and Pensions Infrastructure Platform in 2018 for GBP 701m, following other smaller deals.

In its home market, the French company earlier this year sold a 158 MW onshore wind portfolio to Pontegadea, the investment holding of Spanish billionaire Amacio Ortega, while it agreed a deal to sell a majority stake in its energy efficiency unit Perfesco to DWS Infrastructure via a capital raise. In another recent deal it sold a stake in some of the assets of its electric vehicle charging subsidiary Izivia to Morrison.

EDF Renewables is mainly present in Europe and North America, and operates in more than 20 countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa and in the Middle East to develop renewable energy projects. At the end of 2023, EDF Renewables had a net installed wind and solar capacity of more than 12.8 GW worldwide.