The energy company of Portuguese origin, EDP, the fourth electricity company in the Spanish market, presented its new 2023-2026 strategic plan this afternoon in London, which highlights an investment of 25,000 million in the period focused mainly on boosting its portfolio of renewables with the objective of increasing its annual renewable portfolio by 4.5 gigawatts (GW) to exceed 18 GW gross by 2026, which would place them with a total portfolio of 33 GW in 2026 and more than 50 GW in 2030.
Its CEO Miguel Stilwellm has explained that this decision supposes “an investment rate of around 6,200 million per year”.
Asked specifically about the legal certainty that Spain transmits, after the announcement of the change of headquarters of Ferrovial, the manager has dodged the question with a “I do not rule on the decisions of other companies.” But he has taken the opportunity to point out that the development of the ecological transition to meet the decarbonisation objectives set by the European Union needs strong investments and, therefore, a stable framework that guarantees these investments.
“Approving new regulations every three months is not a stable framework. Neither in Spain nor in Europe. This is not a formula to attract investment at a time that is necessary for competitiveness”, he warned.
The manager has also been opposed to the proposal to reform the electricity market made public by Spain. “There are reasonable approaches and others not so much. Any reform must start from the fact that the marginalist market works and is what allows Europe to have a common electricity market. But what in no case makes sense is that the regulation of the PPAs is applied to those that are already signed”, he pointed out.
For her part, Ana Paula Marques is the new CEO of EDP Spain, has spoken out against the extraordinary tax for electricity companies approved by Spain and has assured “that it is not a tax that EDP must pay because it does not correspond to it, it is unfair and discriminatory” he assured. Although EDP Spain is still assessing whether it will go to court alone to request the return of up to 50 million that the tax will impact on its income statement. The company assures that it has already appealed jointly through the lawsuit filed by the employers’ association of the Aelec sector, to which they belong.
Regarding the development of his strategic plan, Stilwell has detailed that his commitment addresses both onshore wind and solar technologies on a commercial scale, to which they will allocate 40% of the 21,000 million expected investment in renewable energies.
As for the emerging ones, the largest investment (12%) will go to distributed solar generation (12%), storage and hydrogen will receive 3%. For its part, offshore wind energy will represent 5% of EDP’s investments in renewables, with an increase in capacity through Ocean Winds.
In the electrical network segment, for which an investment plan of 4,000 million euros is committed, EDP will continue to grow and diversify its portfolio. The updated business objectives include reaching 400,000 kilometers of distribution lines, nine million smart meters and 12 million connection points.
“This business plan reinforces our ambition for growth, while further driving our commitment to the planet and the creation of superior value for all”, highlighted Miguel Stilwell.
“We reiterate our commitment to go coal-free by 2025 and degenerate to 100% renewable energy by 2030, with a goal of net zero emissions by 2040,” the company stressed. Likewise, EDP will invest a total of 3,000 million euros in innovation and digitization until 2026.
With this new strategy, the group now expects to reach 7,000 million euros in revenues and capital gains by 2026, while it expects to obtain, by 2026, a recurring Ebitda of 5,700 million euros and a recurring net profit of between 1,400 and 1,500 million euros.
At the same time, it has announced an improvement in its dividend policy, so that the minimum dividend per share will gradually increase from 0.19 to 0.20 euros, while the pay-out target will be revised to 60- 70%
That Thursday EDP also announced the launch of a 100% takeover bid (OPA) of its listed subsidiary EDP Brasil, 56.05% owned, to acquire the shares held by minority shareholders. EDP ??has stated that it already has a commitment from CTG, ADIA and GIC for an aggregate amount of up to 600 million euros, subject to final market conditions. In order to finance the takeover bid, EDP intends to raise its own funds, through the increase in share capital, for an amount of 1,000 million euros.
