EnBW: We Will Continue Investing Heavily in Wind Power

EnBW plans to continue the strategic reorientation and invest heavily in growth areas such as the Grids and Renewable Energies segments, with a particular focus on wind power, the German energy company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Thomas Kusterer said.

The announcement came with the company’s release of financial results for the first nine months of 2017.

EnBW reported a net profit of around EUR 1.87 billion, a massive improvement compared to EUR 192.5 million loss recorded in the same period a year earlier driven mostly by the reimbursement of the nuclear fuel rod tax and the sale of 49.89 percent of the shares in the EnBW Hohe See offshore wind farm in February 2017.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA in the Renewable Energies segment rose by one percent in the first nine months of the year from EUR 223.2 million in the previous year to EUR 224.8 million. The segment’s results were impacted by less electricity generated at the company’s run-of-river power plants which was also sold at on the forward markets at lower prices than in the previous year.

The negative effects from the run-of-river power plants were however offset by increased generation at the Baltic 1 and Baltic 2 offshore wind farms and additional onshore wind capacity, EnBW said.

Of the total gross investments amounting to EUR 983.6 million for the period, EUR 431.4 million was invested in Renewable Energies as construction of the offshore wind farms EnBW Hohe See and Albatros has begun, EnBW said. Looking at the same period last year, the Renewable Energies segment saw investments amounting to EUR 93.5 million.