Grid outages affect Q3 op result at Vattenfall’s wind division

Sandbank wind farm. Source: Vattenfall (news.vattenfall.com)

Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB today reported a significantly widened underlying operating loss at its wind power segment for the third quarter of 2017.

The particular division recorded a loss of SEK 300 million (USD 35.9m/EUR 30.8m) in July-September 2017 compared to SEK 117 million a year earlier. Vattenfall blamed the negative result on lower availability resulting from grid outages and cable issues at certain offshore wind farms.

Still, the division demonstrated strong results for the first nine months of the year, with underlying operating profit jumping nearly 57% on the year thanks to the addition of new capacity during the period.

Also today, the company announced that it has made a decision to invest over EUR 200 million (USD 233m) in the repowering and expansion of the Wieringermeer onshore wind farm in the Netherlands to 295 MW by 2020.

The table below gives more details about the performance of the wind segment. Early in July the company changed the structure of the division, splitting it into three business units -- Offshore, Onshore and Photovoltaic & Battery.

Amounts in SEK million	9-mo 2017	9-mo 2016	Q3 2017	Q3 2016
Underlying operating profit (loss)	752	480	(300)	(117)
Underlying operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses	3,913	2,919	729	697
External net sales	4,285	2,975	1,051	795
Net sales	6,140	4,519	1,546	1,263
Electricity generation - wind power (TWh)	5.1	3.9	1.4	1.1

The next table contains Vattenfall’s consolidated results for the quarter and nine months through September 30, 2017.

Amounts in SEK million	9-mo 2017	9-mo 2016	Q3 2017	Q3 2016
Profit (loss) for the period	6,690	1,790	789	787
Underlying operating profit	16,012	14,602	2,815	2,602
Net sales	96,839	101,412	27,426	29,746
Electricity generation (TWh)	92.2	86.3	27.3	25.2