EDPR Posts 13% Earnings Dip in H1 2021

EDP Renewables (EDPR) has reported EBITDA of €654m for the first half of 2021, a drop of 13% from the same period last year.

This decrease was due to the impact of sales (-€69m year-on-year), the lower average selling price (-€22m year-on-year), mainly in Spain and the US, and unfavourable currency translation (-€38m year-on-year).

These factors were not offset by additional capacity (+€61 million year-on-year) and higher wind resources (+€11m year-on-year).

Bad weather in the US in the first quarter of the year also affected the "evolution of revenues", the company said.

Despite this, the business performed well in Europe and Brazil, with EBITDA increasing by €40m compared to the previous year.

Net debt reached €3563m (+€120m compared with the end of the previous year), reflecting the investment strategy offset by the capital increase carried out in April, which gives the company a solid financial position, EDPR said.

EDPR has continued to boost its operating portfolio in the first half of the year reaching 12.6GW, 2.1GW more than in the same period of the previous year.

Of this total, 11.7GW are fully consolidated and 841MW equity consolidated (stakes in projects in Spain, Portugal, USA, as well as offshore projects).

In particular, EDPR has added a total of 691MW of wind and solar capacity since December 2020.

Of this 648MW has been fully consolidated, namely 83MW in Europe, 537MW in North America and 28MW in Asia-Pacific, as a result of the group’s entry in Vietnam.

Moreover, consolidated capital increased by 43MW thanks to the Seamade offshore project in Belgium, which became operational during the first quarter of the year.

On the other hand, and in line with its strategy of asset rotation to generate value, EDPR has successfully closed the sale of a 68% stake in an operating wind portfolio of 405MW in the US (275MW net).

In total, the net change in EDPR's consolidated portfolio was an additional 415MW.

In addition, as of 30 June, EDPR had 2.9GW of new capacity under construction: 2195MW of onshore wind, 421MW of solar and 269MW of participations in offshore wind projects.

EDPR chief executive Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade said: "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.

"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.

"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."

EDPR continues to increase its project portfolio and has significant near-term visibility for additional growth.

It has 3.7GW of PPAs under negotiation and pre-selected, has closed a collaboration agreement with Amazon for solar and wind energy through PPAs between 2023-2025 in the US, Europe and Latin America.

It also has relevant forecasts such as the potential auctions of more than 30GW that the company expects to occur in 2021.

EDPR is also expanding its geographical presence to take advantage of growth opportunities in attractive markets.

Of particular note is the company's entry into renewable markets with high growth potential and long-term renewable regulatory frameworks such as the UK, Chile, Vietnam and Poland.