Enefit Green's consolidated operating income for Q4 2023 decreased by 19 percent to €66.9m compared to the same time last year, and operating expenses (excluding depreciation) increased by 1 percent to 37.3 million euros. As a result, Q4 2023 EBITDA fell by 35 per cent to €29.6m. In the last quarter of the year, the Group earned a net profit of €19.1m, which is 46 percent less than in the same period last year.
In 2023 as a whole, Enefit Green's consolidated operating income decreased by 10 percent compared to the previous year to €230.1m, EBITDA by 32 percent to €105.9m, and net profit by 49 percent to €55.8m. 2023 earnings per share was €0.21 (2022: EUR 0.42).
The Management Board of Enefit Green, in coordination with the Supervisory Board, proposes to pay the shareholders €27.7m or €0.105 per share in dividends.
Aavo Kärmas, Chairman of the Management Board of Enefit Green, comments:
"Enefit Green continued to work on development projects in 2023 and we completed two new renewable power plants in Estonia and one in Poland. As of the end of the year, the company had more than 500 megawatts of operating production capacity and more than 700 megawatts under construction.
We made investment decisions for the construction of one onshore wind farm in Lithuania and the construction of three solar farms in Estonia and Latvia. The total capacity of these investments is approximately 180 megawatts and the total investment will exceed 200 million euros.
In 2023, we produced 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity and 604 gigawatt-hours of thermal energy. 20% growth in electricity production result was driven by the increase in the output of new completed wind and solar farms and of those still under construction. Although the new wind and solar farms added a significant part of the year's electricity production, it turned out to be smaller than planned, primarily due to the low wind speed, the Akmene incident and the lower availability of the Šilute wind farm.
Lower than planned production led to an increase in the cost of purchasing electricity to fulfil the obligations related to the long-term electricity contracts (PPAs). To reduce the power price risk, large proportion of Enefit Green's electricity production has been sold forward with long-term PPAs. As the actual production was well below the planned level, the shortfall had to be purchased on the market to meet contractual obligations.
We will continue to work this year to ensure the completion of our construction projects and that every megawatt-hour of electricity will be produced. Enefit Green has a strong development portfolio of approximately 4,900 megawatts of short- and long-term on- and offshore wind and solar farm projects. We have long-term development and operating experience and a good access to capital markets. However, the speed of the company's growth is determined by the demand on our core markets and of our customers, as well as our promise to manage the assets of our shareholders well."
Highlights in 2023
- 65 MW of new wind and solar parks completed
- Suspension and restart of the construction of the Akmene wind farm
- One final investment decision to build a wind farm – 87 MW
- Three final investment decisions to build a new solar farm – a total of 91 MW
- Total value of 2023 final investment decisions exceeds €200m
- A total of €505m of loan facilities signed during 2023
- In Q4, we signed contracts for the sale of all biomass assets
