Brookfield to buy Duke renewables unit for US$2.8B

Brookfield Renewable agreed to buy a big portfolio of wind and solar farms from Duke Energy Corp. for US$2.8 billion in a move intended to boost cash reserves.

Duke expects net proceeds from the transaction to be about US$1.1 billion, the company said in a Monday statement.

U.S. utilities are racing to unload unregulated power assets outside of their home markets after Wall Street began prioritizing slimmed businesses focused on their core territories. Investors now prefer that utilities invest locally, with returns guaranteed by the passage of spending costs to their customers.

“We saw a great opportunity to really focus on our clean energy transition in our regulated states,” company spokesperson Jennifer Garber said in a phone interview. “We’re looking at adding about 30,000 megawatts of renewables by 2035.”