The lion's share of this went into the construction of wind farms and solar parks. This was Eesti Energia's largest quarterly investment in recent years.
“Compared to last year, we have increased our investments in renewable energy fivefold, obtained the second largest market share in Latvia and Lithuania, and hired more than 700 new employees,” said Andri Avila, CFO of Eesti Energia, summarizing their financial results.
“The solution to the energy crisis is provided by new renewable energy production units that generate more affordable electricity, the establishment of which is boosted by the company's profitability and rapid growth in Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland,” Avila said. “Our largest investments in the third quarter were made through our renewable energy company Enefit Green specifically for the construction of new wind farms and solar parks in order to bring more affordable and environmentally friendly electricity to the market.”
The group invested EUR 52 million in renewable energy in Q3, while in nine months a total of EUR 105.2 million was invested in new wind farms and solar parks, being more than five times more than last year.
The group made its largest investments through the listed company Enefit Green in the following wind farms: Tolpanvaara EUR 5.6 million, Šilale EUR 19.2 million, Akmene EUR 8.7 million and Purtse EUR 3.4 million. In addition, EUR 2.7 million were invested in the development of the solar park in Purtse and EUR 2.9 million in the development of the solar park in Zambrow.
“These facilities will cover the annual electricity consumption of more than 200,000 households, first of these will start to produce reasonably priced electricity to the market in the first quarter of next year,” Avila explained. According to Avila, Eesti Energia plans to invest nearly EUR 2.5 billion over 2022-2026, most of which in the construction of new wind farms and solar parks in the group's home markets.
In addition to new renewable energy production units, the group invested in the power network. In order to develop the network and enable micro-production, the network company Elektrilevi increased its net investments in the third quarter by a fifth, reaching EUR 31.8 million.
Enefit is the TOP 2 energy company in Latvia and Lithuania
Eesti Energia's rapid growth in all energy markets of the Baltic Sea region enables record investments. In Lithuania, the number of the group's customers has nearly quadrupled in the nine months of 2022 and amounts to more than 100,000 customers. “All Enefit's Lithuanian household customers consume renewable electricity and thus contribute to the creation of new renewable energy production units in the entire Baltic region,” Avila added. In addition, the number of the company's customers has increased by 59% in Latvia, 44% in Poland and 29% in Finland since the beginning of the year. The total number of customers of the group has increased by more than a fifth over the year.
Enefit has become the second largest market participant after the local market leaders in both Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia, Enefit's market share is more than a quarter, and in Lithuania, almost a fifth of the local energy market.
Nearly a thousand new employees by the end of the year
The rapid growth of the group is also indicated by the number of employees which has increased by more than 700 in nine months. “We have recruited the biggest number of employees in Estonia, especially in Ida-Virumaa, but we have also employed more than a hundred people outside Estonia,” Avila explained. “More than 5,100 employees work in Eesti Energia today, while by the end of the year, we will grow it to 5,300 employees, being by almost a thousand more compared to last year.”
Eesti Energia's total retail electricity sales increased to 2.3 terawatt-hours (+14%) in the third quarter. More than half of the electricity (61%) was sold outside Estonia: in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Retail sales of electricity grew the most (+38%) in Latvia.
The sales revenue of the group of Eesti Energia in Q3 was more than double as high compared to the same period last year, reaching EUR 657.1 million. In nine months, the group earned over EUR 1.62 billion in sales revenue.
Over the first nine months of 2022, Eesti Energia paid a total of almost half a billion euros in taxes and environmental fees to the state. Of this, EUR 95.3 million in direct taxes and EUR 399.1 million of СО₂ emission costs in market price, which increased by almost a hundred million euros compared to last year.
Normalized EBITDA was EUR 93.8 million in Q3, almost three times higher than in the same period last year. Nine-month EBITDA more than doubled compared to last year to EUR 299.9 million. While in the third quarter of last year, the net loss of the group was EUR 15.4 million, then this year a net profit of EUR 27.4 million euros was earned in Q3. Net profit for nine months reached EUR 111.9 million, while the previous year saw a net loss of EUR 12.3 million.