Costs sink H1 renewables profits for Spain's Ence, EBITDA stays healthy

Forest biomass. Author: Oregon Department of Forestry. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

The renewable energy business of Spanish group Ence Energia y Celulosa SA (BME:ENC) recorded a 67.9% year-on-year drop in first-half attributable net profit to EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.3m).

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the renewables segment rose by 30.5% to EUR 25.7 million at the end of the year’s first semester. According to the financial report published on Wednesday, the company’s net finance costs rose by 88.8% year-on-year to EUR 8.9 million.

Ence, whose other business activities include pulp and forestry, saw its half-year revenues in the renewables business rise by 17.5% year-on-year to EUR 80.8 million.

The company operates six biomass-fired power plants in Spain with a combined installed capacity of 170 MW. Since December 2018, it has been running the 50-MW Puertollano concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real.

Electricity sales volume increased by 7.8% to 482,580 MWh in the first six months and by 7% to 235,363 MWh in the second quarter, driven by the contribution of the CSP plant.

Revenue figures for each plant are presented in the table below:

Plant location:	Capacity:	Technology:	H1 2019 (in EUR):	H1 2018 (in EUR):	y/y change in %
Huelva	50 MW	biomass	139,829	134,905	3.7
Huelva	41 MW	biomass	48,757	73,141	-33.3
Merida	20 MW	biomass	68,560	57,046	20.2
Ciudad Real	16 MW	biomass	45,909	45,172	1.6
Jaen	16 MW	biomass	40,107	45,193	-11.3
Cordoba	27 MW	biomass	100,125	92,013	8.8
Ciudad Real	50 MW	CSP	39,293	-	-
Total revenue in EUR million:			80.8	68.8	17.5

According to Ence, the decline in output at the 41-MW facility in Huelva was due to a temporary halt of operations for repair and repowering.

Ence is currently building two new power plants fired by agricultural and forestry biomass -- a 46-MW facility in Huelva and a 50-MW station in Ciudad Real. Both are planned for commissioning by the end of 2019. The company projects that the new plants will boost annual renewables EBITDA by around EUR 30 million to reach EUR 100 million per year.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.12)

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