Latest news with #EDP
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Business
- Time of India
Wind energy firm EDPR's profit falls 56% on lower capital gains
Lisbon: EDP Renovaveis , the world's fourth-largest wind energy producer, said on Wednesday its first-half profit fell 56 per cent due to much less capital gains than a year ago, despite rising sales on the back of solid growth in power production. EDP's renewables arm said net profit dropped to 93 million euros ($107.4 million), sligthly below the 118 million euro average forecast by analysts polled by LSEG. EDPR said it booked only 12 million euros in capital gains from the sale of wind and solar parks - part of a strategy of disposing stakes in mature plants to finance new ones - in the first half, compared to 171 million euros a year ago. It said in a statement that, excluding capital gains, underlying recurring net profit rose by 80 million euros, reflecting a "significant improvement in the profitability of the operating asset portfolio, driven by increased electricity production levels and improved operational efficiency". Revenues grew 18 per cent to 1.4 billion euros, supported by a 12 per cent increase in power production to 21.2 terawatt-hours, with North America representing 60 per cent of total generation output and Europe 27 per cent , the Portuguese company said. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell year-on-year by 1 per cent to 948 million euros, in line with forecasts. Excluding capital gains, recurring EBITDA grew 20 per cent .
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Wind energy firm EDPR's profit falls 56% on lower capital gains
LISBON, July 30 (Reuters) - EDP Renovaveis ( opens new tab, the world's fourth-largest wind energy producer, said on Wednesday its first-half profit fell 56% due to much less capital gains than a year ago, despite rising sales on the back of solid growth in power production. EDP's ( opens new tab renewables arm said net profit dropped to 93 million euros ($107.4 million), sligthly below the 118 million euro average forecast by analysts polled by LSEG. EDPR said it booked only 12 million euros in capital gains from the sale of wind and solar parks – part of a strategy of disposing stakes in mature plants to finance new ones – in the first half, compared to 171 million euros a year ago. It said in a statement that, excluding capital gains, underlying recurring net profit rose by 80 million euros, reflecting a "significant improvement in the profitability of the operating asset portfolio, driven by increased electricity production levels and improved operational efficiency". Revenues grew 18% to 1.4 billion euros, supported by a 12% increase in power production to 21.2 terawatt-hours, with North America representing 60% of total generation output and Europe 27%, the Portuguese company said. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell year-on-year by 1% to 948 million euros, in line with forecasts. Excluding capital gains, recurring EBITDA grew 20%. ($1 = 0.8660 euros)
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Green hydrogen retreat poses threat to emissions targets
By Pietro Lombardi, Nina Chestney and Riham Alkousaa MADRID/LONDON/BERLIN (Reuters) -Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. The challenges facing the sector have exposed its initial ambitions as unrealistic. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. The gap between ambition and reality in Europe shows the extent of the reset happening within the industry, said Jun Sasamura, hydrogen manager at research company Westwood Global Energy. Only about a fifth of planned hydrogen projects across the European Union are likely to come online by the end of the decade, he said. That equates to roughly 12 GW of production capacity against an EU target of 40 GW, Westwood Global Energy data shows. "In the current state, I really don't see the EU 2030 (hydrogen production) target being reached," he added. INFLATED EXPECTATIONS Companies say that high costs and a lack of demand for green hydrogen have rendered many plans unprofitable. "Green hydrogen was an inflated expectation that has turned into a valley of disillusionment," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP. "What's missing is the demand. There are 400 million euros ($464.2 million) of subsidies for hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, but we need someone to buy the hydrogen." The company has several projects in advanced stages but cannot move forward because of a lack of buyers, said Ana Quelhas, EDP's hydrogen chief and co-chair of the European Renewable Hydrogen Coalition. Across the border, Spain's Iberdrola has shelved plans to increase capacity at a green hydrogen plant with electrolyser capacity of 20 MW until it finds buyers for additional output, company executive Iban Molina said at an energy event in Madrid. They are among more than a dozen large companies that have trimmed spending or shelved projects across Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Companies had scrapped or delayed more than a fifth of all European projects by the end of last year, Westwood Global Energy says. At Aurora Energy Research, Emma Woodward said: "In 2020-2021 we had this view of hydrogen and the fact it was going to be used in almost every sector that hadn't been electrified. "I think we've realised now that there are other, probably more commercially viable, alternatives for lots of sectors. Maybe we don't need as much hydrogen as initially expected." TOO EXPENSIVE Many governments have long supported development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables - to help to decarbonise energy, transport and industry. Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies they hoped would bring down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support. Production, however, remains more expensive than for natural gas and other fossil fuel-based alternatives, said Minh Khoi Le, Rystad Energy's head of hydrogen research. It is at least three times more expensive than natural gas as a fuel for power generation, for example, and twice as expensive as grey hydrogen. The latter is produced from natural gas and coal and is already used in industries such as oil refining and production of ammonia and methanol. Costs could fall by 30-40% in 10-15 years if equipment prices decline and the broader supply chain scales up, he added, while Aurora's Woodward and Westwood Global Energy's Sasamura said that green hydrogen is unlikely to become competitive before then. Only 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of low-carbon hydrogen capacity - including green and blue hydrogen, which is made from gas - is either operational or under construction globally, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. This is well below the 450 mtpa the consultancy says is needed as part of the global push for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU has committed to reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, en route to the 2050 target. BUYERS PRICED OUT THE MARKET The industry had counted on sectors such as steel, oil refining, cement and transport to be among the first buyers, but the expected demand has failed to materialise. German die forging company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drill pipes, is dependent on furnaces fired by natural gas and is looking for a replacement. However, green hydrogen is still too expensive. Offers for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while natural gas can be bought for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Chief Executive Roman Diederichs. "It simply doesn't work. You might not want to call it economic suicide, but in practice it would be just that. We'd be completely uncompetitive," he said. Prices remain elevated because of the high cost of electrolysers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks and increased energy costs resulting from rules on what constitutes green hydrogen. Some European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy has recently shifted more than 600 million euros in post-pandemic funds from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%. The Dutch government last year made sharp cuts to funds it had originally reserved for green hydrogen projects and battery development, shifting the focus of its climate fund toward the planned construction of two new nuclear plants. Several players in Australia, meanwhile, have scaled back or withdrawn from projects despite more than A$8 billion ($5.2 billion) of pledged government support. Projects that are going ahead also face delays. Rystad Energy analysts estimate that 99% of A$100 billion of projects announced for the next five years have failed to progress beyond the concept or approval stage. INFRASTRUCTURE DIFFICULTIES Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures and tends to leak, making for risky transportation through old gas pipelines while awaiting new infrastructure. Spain hopes to build a 2,600 km (1,615 mile) hydrogen network and connect it to another project - the trans-European H2Med link - from the Iberian region to northwest Europe. The Spanish network should be operational around 2030, but delays of two or three years are likely for broader European infrastructure, said Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Spanish gas grid operator Enagas. "Infrastructure is not something that happens when the market has already taken off; it is something that has to happen for the market to take off," he said. ($1 = 0.8617 euros) ($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Focus: Green hydrogen retreat poses threat to emissions targets
MADRID/LONDON/BERLIN, July 23 (Reuters) - Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. The challenges facing the sector have exposed its initial ambitions as unrealistic. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. The gap between ambition and reality in Europe shows the extent of the reset happening within the industry, said Jun Sasamura, hydrogen manager at research company Westwood Global Energy. Only about a fifth of planned hydrogen projects across the European Union are likely to come online by the end of the decade, he said. That equates to roughly 12 GW of production capacity against an EU target of 40 GW, Westwood Global Energy data shows. "In the current state, I really don't see the EU 2030 (hydrogen production) target being reached," he added. Companies say that high costs and a lack of demand for green hydrogen have rendered many plans unprofitable. "Green hydrogen was an inflated expectation that has turned into a valley of disillusionment," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP ( opens new tab. "What's missing is the demand. There are 400 million euros ($464.2 million) of subsidies for hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, but we need someone to buy the hydrogen." The company has several projects in advanced stages but cannot move forward because of a lack of buyers, said Ana Quelhas, EDP's hydrogen chief and co-chair of the European Renewable Hydrogen Coalition. Across the border, Spain's Iberdrola ( opens new tab has shelved plans to increase capacity at a green hydrogen plant with electrolyser capacity of 20 MW until it finds buyers for additional output, company executive Iban Molina said at an energy event in Madrid. They are among more than a dozen large companies that have trimmed spending or shelved projects across Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Companies had scrapped or delayed more than a fifth of all European projects by the end of last year, Westwood Global Energy says. At Aurora Energy Research, Emma Woodward said: "In 2020-2021 we had this view of hydrogen and the fact it was going to be used in almost every sector that hadn't been electrified. "I think we've realised now that there are other, probably more commercially viable, alternatives for lots of sectors. Maybe we don't need as much hydrogen as initially expected." Many governments have long supported development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables - to help to decarbonise energy, transport and industry. Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies they hoped would bring down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support. Production, however, remains more expensive than for natural gas and other fossil fuel-based alternatives, said Minh Khoi Le, Rystad Energy's head of hydrogen research. It is at least three times more expensive than natural gas as a fuel for power generation, for example, and twice as expensive as grey hydrogen. The latter is produced from natural gas and coal and is already used in industries such as oil refining and production of ammonia and methanol. Costs could fall by 30-40% in 10-15 years if equipment prices decline and the broader supply chain scales up, he added, while Aurora's Woodward and Westwood Global Energy's Sasamura said that green hydrogen is unlikely to become competitive before then. Only 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of low-carbon hydrogen capacity - including green and blue hydrogen, which is made from gas - is either operational or under construction globally, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. This is well below the 450 mtpa the consultancy says is needed as part of the global push for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU has committed to reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, en route to the 2050 target. The industry had counted on sectors such as steel, oil refining, cement and transport to be among the first buyers, but the expected demand has failed to materialise. German die forging company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drill pipes, is dependent on furnaces fired by natural gas and is looking for a replacement. However, green hydrogen is still too expensive. Offers for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while natural gas can be bought for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Chief Executive Roman Diederichs. "It simply doesn't work. You might not want to call it economic suicide, but in practice it would be just that. We'd be completely uncompetitive," he said. Prices remain elevated because of the high cost of electrolysers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks and increased energy costs resulting from rules on what constitutes green hydrogen. Some European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy has recently shifted more than 600 million euros in post-pandemic funds from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%. The Dutch government last year made sharp cuts to funds it had originally reserved for green hydrogen projects and battery development, shifting the focus of its climate fund toward the planned construction of two new nuclear plants. Several players in Australia, meanwhile, have scaled back or withdrawn from projects despite more than A$8 billion ($5.2 billion) of pledged government support. Projects that are going ahead also face delays. Rystad Energy analysts estimate that 99% of A$100 billion of projects announced for the next five years have failed to progress beyond the concept or approval stage. Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures and tends to leak, making for risky transportation through old gas pipelines while awaiting new infrastructure. Spain hopes to build a 2,600 km (1,615 mile) hydrogen network and connect it to another project - the trans-European H2Med link - from the Iberian region to northwest Europe. The Spanish network should be operational around 2030, but delays of two or three years are likely for broader European infrastructure, said Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Spanish gas grid operator Enagas. "Infrastructure is not something that happens when the market has already taken off; it is something that has to happen for the market to take off," he said. ($1 = 0.8617 euros) ($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)
Daily Mirror
22-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
DWP issues new update for benefit claimants owed £1,000s in compensation
The payments are being issued to people who received certain disability benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, who lost disability premiums after they were moved to Universal Credit The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued an update for disability benefit claimants who could be owed thousands of pounds in compensation. The payments are being issued to people who received certain disability benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, who lost disability premiums after they were moved to Universal Credit before January 2019. As a result, some people lost out on severe disability premium (SDP) and enhanced disability premium (EDP). Law firm Leigh Day challenged this loss of income in court and argued that some people saw their payments drop by up to £180 a month. The DWP agreed to compensate for the loss of income, which Leigh Day estimates could be worth in excess of £5,000 per person. However, the DWP has now confirmed around 13,000 cases are yet to be processed and cleared. In its annual report published earlier this month, it said: "Unfortunately, some underpayments may be owed to customers who no longer have an active ESA claim and restrictions in data make it difficult to identify, assess and correct these errors." The DWP said it expects the remaining cases will be resolved by September. It is estimated that 57,000 people were affected by the issue and the total cost of the repayment exercise is expected to be £452million. Leigh Day secured a settlement for 275 claimants following its High Court challenge and these people were awarded between £200 and £3,000 in a damages. A DWP spokesperson told the Independent: 'We are fully committed to identifying claimants that are owed arrears and providing the financial support to which they are entitled as quickly as possible, with the majority of these cases having already been resolved. "We are clear that errors like this one should not happen and have already taken action to avoid future errors.' In a statement issued earlier this year, Leigh Day solicitor Ryan Bradshaw said: 'I am glad to have settled this claim on behalf of my clients. However, there are thousands of others who have been similarly affected who have not been in a position to bring a claim like this. 'They too will have experienced the loss of £180 a month after they were moved from legacy benefits on to universal credit in the years before January 2019. They too will have suffered unnecessary stress.' It comes as the DWP is finishing moving everyone on legacy benefits to Universal Credit. The benefits being replaced by Universal Credit are: Housing Benefit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Income Support.
