German wind power-focused renewables company PNE AG (ETR:PNE3) is considering divesting its US operations because of the high guarantees and securities companies are currently required to make in this market.
The construction of renewable energy plants, which requires high investments, generates a major part of the margins and to boost its margins in the US, PNE will have to invest heavily which would hamper the expansion of its portfolio in Europe, the company said on Wednesday.
PNE stressed also that development pipelines in the US are garnering much interest due to the incentives offered under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The company has been active in the US since 2008 in the development and installation of wind farms, solar power plants and energy storage systems. It offers also technical and commercial management services and produces electricity from a number of its own wind farms.
GOOD START TO 2023 AFTER A STRONG 2022
The Cuxhaven-based company has made a good start to 2023 with the expansion of its internally operated portfolio which now includes 207 MW of projects that are either under construction or have passed the tendering process in Germany and France. In Germany, it has also received permits for the 36-MW Heidmoor and 18.6-MW Bebensee wind projects.
Taking into account upfront expenditure in the low single-digit million range for its strategic expansion, PNE projects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the range of EUR 30 million to EUR 40 million (USD 43.38m) for 2023.
Last year, the group's total aggregate output came in at EUR 243.3 million, compared to EUR 252 million in 2021 while EBITDA grew to EUR 35.4 million from EUR 32.7 million, topping the group's outlook for EUR 20 million - 30 million.
The nominal capacity of the wind farms operated by PNE reached 318.9 MW at end-2022, up from 233.2 MW thanks to the acquisition of new wind parks.
The pipeline of projects under development hit 11,883 MW/MWp with onshore wind accounting for 7,587 MW and photovoltaic (PV) for 4,296 MWp.
(EUR 1 = USD 1.085)
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Source: PNE AG
