Statkraft’s best second quarter ever – E24

Statkraft delivers strong numbers for the second quarter and first half of the year. The company’s marketing activities contributed a lot to the result.

Statkraft reported its strongest second quarter and first six-month results on record.

The company says the second quarter was its strongest on record, despite lower production and energy prices. The reason was, among other things, the company’s strong earnings in the energy trade.

These are some of Statkraft’s key numbers for the second quarter:

• Net operating income was NOK 13.1 billion, compared to NOK 8.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
• Underlying operating profit (EBIT) rose to NOK 7.6 billion, from NOK 3.8 billion in the same period last year.
• The after-tax result was NOK 5.6 billion, compared to NOK 1.2 billion at the same time last year.
• The company generated 13 terawatt-hours of energy in the second quarter. That’s 1.2 TWh less than in the same quarter last year, and is particularly related to the fact that the company produced less Norwegian hydro than a year ago.

Results for energy companies can vary widely, and not only because of the huge variance in energy prices. The value of the Company’s energy and hedging contracts also fluctuates a lot in line with market prices and expectations.

note! Statkraft and Statnett are sometimes confused, but they do completely different things. Statkraft produces and sells energy worldwide, while Statnett operates the large power lines in the Norwegian power grid as well as foreign cables. Both are, as the names suggest, owned by the Norwegian state.

He earns well on energy trading

The company says these strong numbers are related to the company’s Norwegian hydropower operations and “very profitable” market activities.

– Strong operations, efficient energy allocation and high value creation in market activities contributed to the best second-quarter result in Statkraft’s history, says Statkraft CEO Christian Reining-Tönnessen in a report. message.

statcraft a job Comprehensive trading of various types of contracts for the supply of electricity, gas and carbon dioxide, and the supply of various types of services to industry.

When a company engages in energy trading, it takes speculative positions based on expectations of future market prices. The company takes both short and long-term positions in the market, and the time horizon can vary from hourly to several years into the future, Statkraft itself previously reported.

Among the products Statkraft deals with are derivatives, a type of financial instrument linked to electricity and other raw materials. These instruments can be, for example, options (the right to buy or sell something in the future at an agreed price) or futures contracts (contracts for future delivery of a commodity, such as electricity or gas).

It buys wind power plants for $4.7 billion

Statkraft has bought a number of wind power plants in France and Germany from Breeze Two Energy for NOK 4.7 billion, according to a separate report. message Thursday.

In all, Statkraft is purchasing 39 wind farms with a total capacity of 337 MW. These should be upgraded and extended their lifespan.

“Since they were built 15 to 21 years ago, turbine technology has improved dramatically, and therefore most plants have great potential to upgrade to modern wind turbines when the time is right,” Statcraft writes.

Replacing old turbines with new, more efficient turbines can double the utility’s energy production and contribute more renewable energy to the green transition, says Barbara Flesch, executive vice president for Europe at Statkraft.

The purchase includes 35 smaller German wind farms with a total of 165 turbines across Germany, for a total of 310 MW. With the purchase, Statkraft becomes one of the ten largest wind energy operators in Germany. The purchase also includes four French wind farms with a total of 20 turbines and an installed output of 27 megawatts.

Lots of money in the treasury

Statcraft notes that the strong results achieved in recent years have increased the company’s ability to invest in new projects.

But an increase in the ground rent tax and the introduction of an additional tax called a high price subsidy on prices above €70 per kilowatt-hour in Norway has had a negative impact on project profitability and investment capacity, says Statcraft.

The company has great ambitions to develop more renewable energy in the future.

The plan is to build 2.5 to 3 gigawatts of new renewable capacity each year from 2025, increasing to four gigawatts per year from 2030. This year the company expects to build about one gigawatt.

The company states in its quarterly report that it has now submitted plans for a wind farm at Moifjellet in Rogaland to NVE.