Since its official commissioning on September 21, the offshore wind farm EnBW Baltic 2 in Stralsund has helped the Karlsruhe-headquartered electric utilities company EnBW improve EBITDA in its renewable energies segment for the first nine months of 2015, and partly offset a 5.3% fall in revenue in the division.
EBITDA rose to EUR 156.3 million in the first nine months of 2015, a 7.4% increase compared to EUR 145.5 million reported for the same period a year earlier, with the ramping up of the EnBW Baltic 2 more than offsetting the continued low wholesale market price for electricity and the accompanying negative effects on earnings from other renewable sources.
Revenue in the company’s renewable energies sector fell from EUR 291 million in the first nine months of 2014, to EUR 275.5 million in the first three quarters of 2015.
EnBW invested EUR 325.4 million in its renewable energies segment in the first nine months of 2015, 11.6% less compared to the same period a year earlier, due to the fact that the EnBW Baltic 2 was completed in the summer of 2015 and the majority of the investment was made in 2014.
The company plans to make a further investment of around EUR 1.3 billion in the development of renewable energy division in the period between 2015 and 2017. The funds are primarily intended for the planning of other offshore projects, as well as for inorganic and organic growth of onshore wind farms.
Looking ahead, EnBW expects the adjusted EBITDA for the renewable energies segment to further increase in the fourth quarter of 2015. The drop in the wholesale market price for electricity and the accompanying negative effects on earnings from the company’s run-of-river power plants are expected to be more than compensated by EnBW Baltic 2.
EnBW thus continues to expect an increase in the operating result for the segment of at least 20 percent.
EnBW Baltic 2 is located 32 kilometres to the north of the island of Rügen. Its 80 wind turbines with a total output of 288 megawatts were installed over an area of 27 square kilometres. The offshore wind farm will generate 1.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year and cover the aggregate requirements of 340,000 households while saving 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).