EDPR investments surge during first half of 2009

9/1/2009 9:48:32 AM

Portuguese renewable energy giant EDP Renovaveis increased its capital expenditure to €913m in the first half of 2009, compared to €760m during the same period of 2008. Of this, €493m was spent in the UK and €419m in the US.

Of this, €493m was spent in Europe and €419m in the US. Within Europe, EDPR spent €248m in Spain, €44m in Portugal, and €201m in the rest of Europe, in particular in Poland, Belgium and France. Some 94% of capex was spent on construction and development activities and 6% on wind turbine deposits.

EDPR’s first half net profit rose by 32% to €65.6m, compared to €49.6m in the first half of 2008. EBITDA was up 19% at $270.8m. EDPR said that the higher profits were a result of higher output, and “a low risk portfolio to face the current unfavourable pricing environment in the power markets.” EDPR said it benefited from a very active risk management policy aimed at reducing its exposure to Spanish pool prices, which have fallen sharply over the last year. “During the this period EDPR sold forward c.1,000 Gwh, which resulted in a €12m gain and enabled a positive evolution on the Spanish revenues, despite the 38% decrease in the pool price,” the company said.

The company increased its wind power capacity by 1,455MW over the last year to 5,301MW at the end of June, compared to 3,846MW at the end of June 2008, the company said. During the first half of 2009, the company installed 249MW in new capacity, including 200MW in the US, 35MW in Europe and 14MW in Brazil. EDPR said this represents about 20% of the 1.2 – 1.3GW in new capacity planned for the year. In the second quarter alone, it added 136MW, of which 101MW was in the US, 10MW in Belgium and 8MW in France. EDPR’s wind production was 33% higher in the first half compared to the same period in 2008, driven by a 53% increase in US output.

EDPR says that at the end of June, it had 1.261MW under construction, including 760MW in Europe, and 501MW in the US. Within Europe, 63% of capacity is under construction in Spain, 18% in Portugal and 20% in the rest of Europe. In the US, EDPR said that in the 1st quarter it started the construction of the 99MW Blue Canyon V wind farm in Oklahoma, the 102MW Top Crop 1 wind farm in Illinois and the 101MW Lost Lakes wind farm.

EDPR’s portfolio of projects increased by 1.3GW to 29.6MW compared to the year before, mainly through new early stage projects and the acquisition of 532MW in different stages of development in Brazil.

EDPR is the world’s fourth largest wind energy producer.