Sales of Vattenfall's wind business jump high in Q3

The wind power business of Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB has enjoyed a solid improvement in net sales and profitability in both the third quarter and first nine months of 2022 thanks to higher electricity prices and new capacity.

The particular business area is engaged in the development, construction and operation of wind farms along with large-scale and decentralised solar power plants and batteries. During the third quarter of the year, its net sales surged by 129% on the year, while the underlying operating profit ballooned by 371%.

More details are available in the table below.

Vattenfall noted that the construction of its 1,520-MW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm in Dutch waters is proceeding and is expected to wrap up next year. Meanwhile, the group, being a pre-qualified bidder, is awaiting the outcome of an upcoming floating wind tender in France for two areas of 250 MW each, which is expected to be announced in late 2023. Vattenfall is also developing a 980-MW project off the German North Sea coast, pending a final investment decision.

At the end of the quarter, the company had a total of 2,602 MW of offshore and 1,741 MW of onshore wind capacity in operation, along with 81 MW of solar parks.

On a group level, the Swedish utility saw its net sales rise by 47% year-on-year to SEK 53 billion (USD 4.85bn/EUR 4.84bn) in the third quarter but its profit dropped to SEK 6.68 billion from SEK 18.3 billion because of the major positive one-off effects it registered in the prior-year period related to the sale of its electricity distribution business in Berlin and compensation for the early closure of nuclear power capacity in Germany.

Vattenfall noted that the positive contributions from the wind and sales segments in the third quarter were offset by negative effects from price differences between Nordic price areas.

(SEK 1 = USD 0.092/EUR 0.091)

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