State-owned green energy generator Enefit reports 2019 €36.8 million profit
Enefit Green, the renewables subsidiary of state-owned energy generator Eesti Energia has reported revenue of €151.5 million for 2019, a rise of 94 percent on the previous year, and a net profit of €36.8 million in the same year.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at €90.3 million, operating profit at €49.5 million – a rise of 140 percent on year.
The company says that the 2018 acquisition of renewables firm Nelja Energia, ideal weather conditions and reliability of wind farms themselves, and an increased production in renewable energy as a whole were behind the increase.
"The merger of Enefit Green and Nelja Energia was successful and exceeded our set objectives. For us, 2019 was also characterized by several important transactions. In June, we entered the Polish renewable energy market by signing an agreement to acquire 20 solar parks in Poland. By the end of 2019, we completed the acquisition of 18 of these 20 solar parks," said Enefit Green board member Veiko Räim.
The remaining two solar parks' transaction completion is ongoing, Räim added.
Enefit also sold its holdings in the Vinni (Lääne County) and Oisu (Järva County) biogas cogeneration plants to holding company AS Infortar to halp the company focuses on its core sectors of renewable energy from wind, sun, biomass and mixed municipal waste.
The company says it also streamlined its legal and cashflow structures, which had also had an effect on the bottom line.
Aavo Kärmas, Enefit's board chair, said that the company has its eye on further wind farm expansion in all three Baltic States, along with Finland, and also on solar energy opportunities in Poland.
The company reported a record 1.197 TWh of renewable electricity generated in 2019, which accounted for more than a fifth of the total electricity output of the Eesti Energia Group.
Of this, the bulk, 1.023 GWh, was wind-generated, along with 164 GWh from cogeneration plants and 9 GWh from solar power.
Enefit Green's heat production in 2019 was 573 gigawatt-hours, it says.
Parent company Eesti Energia wants to produce 43 percent of its total electricity and heat generation from renewable sources by 2024, it says.
Enefit Green owns and operates 20 wind farms, 4 cogeneration plants, 36 solar power plants, a pellet plant and a hydroelectric power plant in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte