Ørsted group president Mads Nipper said the company had a good first quarter that slightly exceeded expectations, despite lower wind speeds offshore than in the same period last year
Commenting on the company’s interim report for the first quarter of 2021, Mr Nipper said, “Operational performance was good during Q1 2021. We also reached multiple strategic milestones. In our offshore business, the Baltica 2 and 3 projects in Poland, which have a total capacity of up to 2.5 GW, were awarded contracts for difference, and we entered into a new partnership in the Baltic states.
“We also signed an agreement to farm down 50% of the Borssele 1 & 2 project in the Netherlands,” Mr Nipper said. “In our onshore business, we made a strategic acquisition in Ireland that provides us with a platform for future growth.”
In Q1 2021, Ørsted had operating profit (EBITDA) amounting to Dkr4.9Bn (US$0.8Bn), a Dkr1.9Bn decline compared to the same period in 2020. This was mainly due to high earnings from the construction agreement related to the Hornsea 1 transmission assets in Q1 2020 not being repeated in Q1 2021 and very strong wind speeds in Q1 2020 which were not equalled in Q1 2021.
In Q1 2021, the company was also affected by a Dkr0.8Bn warranty provision related to cable protection system issues at some of its offshore windfarms.
The company said availability rates were solid. It saw higher than expected performance from combined heat and power plants and achieved additional earnings from finalised construction projects.
Earnings from Ørsted’s offshore and onshore windfarms in operation were in line with the same period last year, but although more were in operation, they were offset by significantly lower wind speeds across the company’s offshore portfolio.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the company is maintaining its full-year EBITDA guidance of Dkr15-16Bn. It also reiterated full-year gross investment expectation of Dkr32-34Bn.
Net profit amounted to Dkr1.6Bn and return on capital employed came in at 7.5%.
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