Wind is now Dong's biggest earner

DENMARK: Dong Energy's wind business has outranked the utility's earnings from oil and gas for the first time, with pre-tax earnings (Ebitda) of DKK 11.9bn (€1.6bn) for its last financial year, almost double the previous year's total.

by David Weston 2 February 2017

Germany's Gode Wind projects are now contributing to Dong's wind earnings

The rise in wind's earnings is attributed to the commissioning of the 258MW Burbo Bank Extension in the UK's Irish Sea, and completion of the 582MW Gode Wind 1 & 2 sites in Germany, after a delay in the transmission connection.

"Ebitda for 2017 is expected to be split more or less evenly between wind farm operations and construction contracts and divestment gains," stated the company's financial report.

Dong expects to complete a 50% divestment in the 660MW Walney Extension project in 2017.

"From 2021 to 2025, it is our ambition to continue the value creating expansion and to reach an installed capacity of 11-12GW by the end of 2025," said Dong CEO Henrik Poulsen.

For the first time, Dong reported its oil and gas assets as discontinuing operations, ahead of a planned sell-off of its fossil fuel assets. The firm also announced plans to remove all coal-based generation from its portfolio by 2023.

According to the group chairman, earnings from wind power exceeded that from oil and gas production for the first time.

Total group Ebitda, including oil and gas, totalled DKK 25.6bn (€3.4bn), with wind power generating 62% of the total.