SN Power acquisition secures 10.5 GW pipeline for developer Scatec

The $1.17 billion acquisition of formerly state-owned hydropower company SN Power helped renewables developer Scatec ASA accumulate a record 10.5 GW clean energy project pipeline by the end of the year.

Scatec – known as Scatec Solar until the addition of SN Power's 2.5 GW of hydro assets in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa – today confirmed it had completed the acquisition from Norwegian state-owned investor Norfund, to add the hydro portfolio “after transaction close.”

With Scatec swelling its own pipeline 800 MW last year – including its first wind farm – the company hit the 10.5 GW mark with the addition of planned assets in South Africa and Vietnam. The developer also added the 150 MW Sukkur project in Pakistan to its list of ‘backlog' projects which have secured firm electricity offtake agreements and are 90% certain of completion.

In this morning's financial update, Oslo-based Scatec reported fourth-quarter “proportionate” revenue of NOK497 million ($57.8 million), gross earnings of NOK223 million and a power production figure that was 37% higher than in the corresponding period of 2019, at 407 GWh. Scatec's October-to-December consolidated result, however, was a net loss of NOK561 million on the back of NOK679 million revenue and gross earnings of NOK448 million.

The company explained its use of proportionate figures by stating: “With proportionate financials, Scatec reports its share of revenues, expenses, profits and cash flows from its subsidiaries without eliminations based on Scatec’s economic interest in the subsidiaries.”

Despite the annual loss, the board sanctioned a NOK1.09/share ($0.13) dividend for 2020, based on full year proportionate revenue of NOK2.84 billion ($330 million), for a consolidated NOK2.75 billion; and gross earnings of NOK1.3 billion, for a consolidated NOK2.07 billion.

The company said power generation for 2020 had risen 44%, year-on-year, with CEO Raymond Carlsen announcing: “In 2020, we made the greatest expansion since our establishment by broadening our growth strategy and acquiring SN Power.”

This copy was amended on 03/02/21 to indicate Scatec lost $42.7 million in 2020, not “more than $65 million,” as previously stated, and to remove the statement it had not released full-year consolidated figures – they had merely been left out of the press release announcing the latest update. Scatec's definition of proportionate figures has been added, along with the full-year consolidated figures for 2020.