Renewables major EDPR grew its green energy generation capacity substantially during the first half of this year, but profits went down at the same time, impacted by various factors such as the cold spell in the US state of Texas earlier this year.
The Madrid-based subsidiary of Portuguese energy company EDP added 2.1GW to its operating portfolio, which stood at 12.6GW at the end of the first half of 2021. Of this, 11.7GW were fully consolidated and 841MW equity consolidated.
Most of the new capacity was added in North America (+648MW), but the company also entered the Vietnamese market for the first time (+28MW), and increased its consolidated generation capacity by 43MW thanks to a participation in the Seamade offshore wind project in Belgium which became operational this year.
Power output rose 5% year-on-year to 15.3 terawatt hours, but revenues and profit declined nevertheless.
"Despite closing the first half of the year with results affected by various factors such as the weather events in the US, we have confirmed our commitment to growth in new attractive markets with potential,” chief executive Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade said.
“The momentum of the company's internationalisation, coupled with the strength of our asset rotation strategy, as well as the good performance of our business in Europe and Brazil, allow us to be optimistic about the remainder of the year.”
Revenues declined 6% to €856m ($1.01bn) in the first half compared to the year-ago period, in part due to lower average selling prices in Spain and the US, and currency exchange factors. The Texas cold spell also dented into revenues, but EDPR didn’t specify by how much.
With part of its wind fleets in Texas out of service for several days in mid-February due to icing and grid issues, utilities because of forward power supply contracts had to buy that volume in power markets, paying up to $9,000 per megawatt hour.
As a result of what EDPR calls a “one-off” weather phenomenon, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell 13% to €654m during the first half compared to the year-earlier period.
Net profit also went down, by 44%, to €142m.
EDPR stressed that it continues to increase its project portfolio, has significant near-term visibility for additional growth, and has 3.7GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) under negotiation and pre-selected.
“The renewable sector is experiencing a moment of great prominence and EDPR is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity and lead the decarbonisation of the economy,” the CEO said.
