Sixty years ago, Enel was established with the aim of uniting Italy through energy, bringing electricity to even the most remote parts of the country. Today, Enel is one of the largest multinational groups in the world, a global leader in renewable energy whose mission it is to lead a just and affordable energy transition process for all by facilitating the electrification of end-use consumption. The Enel story is a past to be told, but above all it’s a future to be built.
The establishment of Enel - originally Ente Nazionale per l'Energia Elettrica (National Electricity Board) - coincided with the passing, by the Italian Parliament on December 8, 1962, of a law to nationalize Italy’s electricity. During the economic boom years, the company’s remit was that of electrifying the entire country, from the cities to the most inaccessible rural areas, while also continuing to focus efforts on research and technology.
In the 1970s, particularly during the oil crisis, the company became a major player in bringing about the era of energy efficiency, including by being the first company to invest in solar energy research.
With the advent of the 1980s also came increased attention regarding environmental issues and sustainability, leading to the creation of Enel's first industrial plan in 1985.
The 1990s were marked by the privatization of the energy market and Enel’s listing on the Italian Stock Exchange.
The early 2000s saw the company begin its internationalization and digitalization journey, the symbol of which was the first smart meter that, from 2001, paved the way for the development of smart grids: intelligent electricity networks designed to enable two-way flows of electricity.
From 2008 and during the decade that followed, as awareness of the current climate change process was growing, Enel, through Enel Green Power, became a world leader in renewable energies, with rapid growth in wind and solar power to go alongside its already prominent position in terms of hydroelectric and geothermal technologies.
The Enel Group, a responsible leader
Today, Enel’s presence throughout the world encompasses 31 countries across five continents. With approximately 54 GW of installed generation capacity from renewable sources, it manages distribution networks for 75 million users and supplies energy to over 69 million final customers.
Enel is also a leader in sustainable finance: as well as being one of the first and largest issuers of green bonds, in 2019 Enel introduced a major innovation in the area of financial debt instruments, issuing the first Sustainability-linked bond and subsequently expanding the range of financial instruments linked to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Today, Enel is leading the world economy’s change and energy transition process, proposing a new energy production and use model that generates zero emissions and respects the environment. However, achieving such ambitious objectives requires everyone's commitment: with advanced, integrated solutions, Enel is supporting those individual consumers, families, businesses and public organizations that choose to electrify their consumption and abandon the use of fossil fuels in everyday life - gas, gasoline and diesel - and in so doing enabling them to become accelerators of the energy transition process.