Greencoat Renewables trebles profit in first six months of year

Irish energy company expects energy prices to return to pre-pandemic levels in one to two years

Irish energy company Greencoat Renewables more than trebled its profit in the first six months of the year, the group’s latest set of accounts show. The company’s interim report, which covers the six-month period ending June 30th, 2022, shows it generated revenue of €143.4 million, and profit after tax of €75 million, which was up from €22.7 million the year before.

The group generated 1,127GWh of electricity, which was 4 per cent behind budget, predominantly due to constraints and curtailments in Ireland.

The group had €264.1 million cash balance at the end of the period. It declared total dividends of 3.09 cent per share with respect to the period.

The company said the outlook “remains strong”, with a “considerable pipeline of attractive assets” in continental Europe, and the opportunity for further consolidation of the Irish market.

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On power, it said electricity demand and prices continued to increase over the period as Europe experienced a shortage of gas supply as well as the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic. “Independent power price forecasts continue to view this as a short-to-medium-term spike, with expectations of a reversion to pre-pandemic levels in 12-24 months,” the group said.

Approximately 70 per cent of portfolio cashflows are underpinned by government support mechanisms with underlying contracted tariffs that are inflation-linked to 2032.

“The past year saw significant rises in inflation across Europe, and we are currently forecasting 2022 inflation to be 6 per cent in Ireland and a similar level in the rest of Europe,” it said.

“We remain pleased to have a portfolio of assets with such high levels of inherent protection.”

Greencoat non-executive chairman Ronan Murphy said the six months was a successful period for the company.

“The six months to June 30th was another active period for the company, as we added 217MW of new generating assets to the portfolio, taking our total installed capacity above the 1GW threshold. We achieved a further milestone with the acquisition of our first offshore wind asset in Germany and strengthened our European diversification with agreements to acquire new assets in Spain, Sweden and France.

“Over the past 12 months we have committed €867 million into renewable generation assets, with elevated power prices supporting increased levels of reinvestment. With Europe expected to require €1 trillion of new clean energy investment by 2040, the company is well positioned to play a significant role in enabling and accelerating this transition, directly contributing to meeting emissions targets and reducing reliance on gas across Europe.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter