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German utility RWE wants to invest about 1.5 billion euros net per year in renewables after a complex transaction that will combine the green energy activities of E.ON and Innogy under the roof of RWE. The move announced last year will give RWE ownership of an 8.6-gigawatt renewables portfolio, . “After the transaction has been completed, 60 percent of RWE´s generation portfolio will then produce electricity with low or zero carbon dioxide emissions,” the company said. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year and RWE said that Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, who currently heads E.ON’s renewables business, would lead the combined business.

According to a , RWE will become Europe’s number 3 renewable energy player, trailing Italy’s Enel and Spain’s Iberdrola, which already have larger renewables portfolios and have earmarked annual green investments of 3.9 billion euros and 2.3 billion euros, respectively.

Morgan Stanley analysts believe that 2019 will be a transition year with many challenges for German utilities, according to a . The main risk for RWE is the pending deal for a coal phase-out, requiring negotiations over compensation for plant closures, according to Morgan Stanley, who called RWE the most promising among the three utilities E.ON, Uniper, and RWE.