EDP Renewables, the fourth largest renewable energy producer in the world, has reached a net profit of €66 million ($70.8 million) in the first quarter of 2022, 75% above the previous year. This figure was partially offset by higher taxes, financials and higher non-controlling interest, among others. EDPR now currently holds a portfolio of operating assets of 14 GW, of which 13 GW are fully consolidated and 1.1 GW is equity consolidated (in Spain, Portugal, the US, Asia-Pacific and offshore).
For Q1 2022, EDPR added a total of 465 MW of wind and solar capacity, out of which 450 MW was fully consolidated, specifically 46 MW in Europe, 3 MW in North America, and 401 MW in Asia-Pacific (APAC). Consolidated equity increased by 15 MW due to new solar projects in APAC. Capacity additions were mainly driven by the successful integration of Sunseap assets from APAC, which now represent 3% of EDPR's portfolio. Furthermore, in March 2022 EDPR had 2.4 GW of capacity under construction, of which 1,569 MW related to onshore wind and 805 MW to solar technology.
In the Q1 period, EDPR produced 9.2 TWh of clean electricity (up 14% inter-annually), avoiding 6 metric tons of CO2 emissions. This inter-annual evolution benefits from the capacity additions over the last 12 months along with a higher renewable resource.
Also, EDPR achieved a 35% load factor (one percentage point higher than the previous financial year), reflecting a renewables index 2% higher than the expected long-term average gross capacity factor (up five percentage points inter-annually).
In the words of Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO of EDP Renewables: “The results reflect our solid growth and our strong positioning as a global market leader. We now have platforms in all key growth regions, our team has grown stronger and more cohesive, and 50% of the capacity targeted under our strategic plan for 2021-2025 has been secured. We are prepared to carry on leading the energy transition.”
EDPR revenues increased to €569 million (up 27% inter-annually), i.e. up €121 million from the previous year. This is due to the impact from additional capacity MW (up €79 million inter-annually) along with higher renewable resource (up €20 million inter-annually), positive forex translation and others (up €27 million inter-annually), which were more than enough to offset the negative effect from the average selling price (down €5 million inter-annually) on the back of portfolio mix effect.
Other operating income amounted to €81 million (up €65 million inter-annually). Operating costs (Opex) totalled €241 million (up €62 million inter-annually) given higher capacity in operation and upfront costs to cope with accelerated growth. In comparable terms, core opex per average megawatt adjusted by offshore costs, service fees, one-offs, and forex increased 13% inter-annually.
EBITDA summed €394 million (a 46% inter-annual increase) and EBIT €232 million (up 83% inter-annually), a result which was mainly driven by a better top line evolution on the back of excellent operational performance from the base portfolio. Net financial expenses increased to €74 million (up €20 million inter-annually), with YoY comparison mainly affected by higher debt and higher average cost of debt YoY along with forex translation.
Net profit summed €66 million (up 75% inter-annually), being partially offset by higher taxes, financials, and higher non-controlling interests, at €61 million (up €51 million inter-annually) as a result of positive top-line performance in the NCI portfolio.
At the close of March 2022, the net debt totalled €4.217 million (up €1.282 million compared to December 2021), reflecting EDPR's investment strategy and the recent acquisition of Sunseap, that offsets €365 million of asset rotation proceeds cashed in January from a transaction in Portugal.
Institutional Partnership Liabilities summed €1.517 million (down €20 million compared to December 2021) reflecting benefits captured by the projects.
