Offshore wind helps RWE earnings grow in first nine months of 2020

Better wind conditions and higher wind farm utilisation helped boost RWE's earnings from offshore wind in the first nine months of the year

by Craig Richard 12 November 2020

RWE has stakes in around 2.5GW of operational offshore wind farms, according to “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Intelligence, including Thornton Bank

Offshore wind was the biggest contributor to RWE’s adjusted Ebitda increasing 13% in the first nine months of the year to €2.2 billion.

Better wind conditions and higher wind farm utilisation meant adjusted Ebitda from offshore wind grew 11% to €738 million in the first nine months of 2020.

Meanwhile, onshore wind and solar earnings rose 8% to €336 million due to the commissioning of new onshore wind and solar plants in Europe and North America, and higher wind volumes.

RWE added that the commissioning of some plants – especially in the US – has been delayed until next year, rather than cancelled outright.

CFO Markus Kreber added that the company had weathered the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic so far, and so confirmed RWE’s full-year guidance, with €2.7-3 billion forecast in adjusted Ebitda and €1.2-1.5 billion in adjusted Ebit.

He added that RWE expects the final figures will be at the upper end of these forecast ranges and that full-year adjusted net income should be between €850 million and €1.15 billion.

Acquiring and integrating E.on and Innogy’s renewables assets has positioned RWE as a major clean energy player.

It expects to have an operational wind and solar portfolio of 10GW by the end of the year.

Announcing its nine-month financial results, RWE also flagged hydrogen as a major opportunity for the company, and added that it is involved in more than 30 projects in three countries and is active across the supply chain.

The majority of its capital expenditure (85%) in the first nine months of the year were in green projects.

RWE spent €1.6 billion on property, plant and equipment in the first nine months of the year, with €1.3 billion of this going towards new wind and solar plants, and battery storage, including the 857MW Triton Knoll ²¹²Ô»åÌý342MW Kaskasi wind farms.

The company ended the third quarter of 2020 with an equity ratio of 31.3% – up 4 percentage points from December 2019.

This was mostly due to the proceeds of a €2 billion capital increase in August.

CFO Kreber explained that this capital increase, along with an acquisition of a 2.7GW pipeline from Nordex, has enabled further mid- to long-term growth in renewables.