Enel’s $1 billion Oklahoma solar plant deal up in the air?

More than a year after announcing plans to invest $1 billion in a solar panel project in Oklahoma, Italy’s Enel is now showing signs of being cautious about the plan.

It’s what Enel’s CEO Flavio Cattaneo stated this week in a presentation of his company’s three-year strategy to 2027. He explained the company intends to move ahead with the Oklahoma project, but only, and that’s a big only, if it is able to locate a U.S. investor ready to take on the majority of the project. At the same time, Cattaneo said Enel is committed to invest and keep concessions in Brazil and Chile.

Cattaneo stated in the presentation, “If a U.S. financier does not believe in it, why ought to I do it?”

The man he succeeded as Enel CEO, Francesco Starace believed the Oklahoma solar plant might have qualified for a lot of U.S. government money under the Inflation Reduction Act, but so far, no partners have stepped forward.

The solar plant was to be built near Inola in northeast Oklahoma but work stalled last spring, with a spokesman explaining Enel was intent on finding a majority partner for the project. At the time of the announcement about the plant, Gov. Kevin Stitt called it a historic announcement.

“Enel’s expansion is a huge win for Oklahoma and I’m thrilled by their record investment in our state’s economy and workforce, that will have a lasting legacy and continued to impact Oklahomans for generations,” said Stitt.

To attract Enel to the state, the Oklahoma legislature passed a number of state incentives in 2023 valued at $180 million. Enel was to receive nearly $36 million a year for the coming five years as it constructed the solar plant at the Tulsa Port of Inola.

Enel’s affiliate 3Sun USA, LLC was to be the developer. Once built, the plant would create about 1,000 permanent jobs and construction was to have started in the fall of last year.